
Glass. 



.^5?^ 



Book^ 



B W © W I ffi) 



W EST; 



Containing^ sketches of 

Micliisan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas. 
Wisconsin and Iowa. 



BY J. M. PECK, A. M., 

Of Eock Spring, 111. 



CINCINNATI 

D. AND ERSO jr. 

1848. 






C N T E N 1^ S 



CHAPTER I. 

Gexeral, View of the Valley of the 
Mississippi. 

Page. 

Extent — Subdivisions — Population — Physical Features 
— Rivers, 15 

CHAPTER II. 

General Viev7, &c., Continued. 
Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Productions — History 
— Prospective Increase of Population, 36 

CHAPTER HI. 

Climate. 
Comparative View of the Climate with the Atlantic 
States — Diseases — Means of preserving Health, ... 62 

CHAPTER IV. 

Character, Manners and Pursuits of 
THE People. 

Cotton and Sugar Planters — Farmers — Population of 
the Cities and large Towns — Frontier Class — Hunt- 
ers and Trappers — Boatmen, 107 



IV COxNTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Public Lands. 

System of Surveys — Meridian and Base Lines — Town- 
ships — Diagram of a Township, surveyed into 
Sections — Land Districts and Offices — Preemption 
Rights — Military Bounty Lands — Taxes — Valuable 
Tracts of Country unsettled, 135 

CHAPTER VL 
Aborigines. 

Conjectare respecting their former Numl)ers and Con- 
dition — Present Number and State — Indian Terri- 
tory appropriated as their permanent Residence — 
Plan and Operations of the United States Govern- 
mient — Missionary Efforts and Stations — Monuments 
and Antiquities, 14S 

CHAPTER Vn. 

Western Pennsylvania. 
Kace of the Country — Soil, Agriculture and internal 
Improvements — Chief Towns — Pittsburgh — Coal, . 167 

CHAPTER Vin. 

Western Virginia. 
Sulphur, Hot and Sweet Springs — Chief Towns, .... 180 

CHAPTER IX. 

Michigan. 
Extent — Situation — Boundaries — Face of the Country 
— Rivers, Lakes, &c. — Soil and Productions — Sub- 
divisions — Counties Chief Towns Education — 



CONTENTS. V 

Projected Improvements — Boundary Dispute — Out- 
line of the Constitution, ]84 

CHAPTER X. 

OHtO. 

Eound.iries — Divisions — Face of the Country — Soil 

and Prod actions Animals Minerals Financial 

Statistics — Canal Fund — Expenditures — Land Tax- 
es — School Fund — Statistics — Canal Revenues — 
Population at different Periods — Rivers — Internal 
Improvements — Manufactures — Cities and Towns, 
Cincinnati, Columbus — Education — Form of Gov- 
ernment — Antiquities — History, IP8 

CHAPTER XL 

Indiana. 
Boundaries and Extent — Counties — Population at dif- 
ferent Periods — Face of the Country — Sketch of 
each County — Form of Government — Finances — 

Internal Improvements Manufactures — Education 

— Ilintoiy — Genera! Remarks, 22S 

CHAPTER XII. 
Illinois. 
Boundaries and Extent — Face of the Country and 
Qualities of Soil — Inundated Land — River Bottoms, 
or Alluvion — Prairies — Barrens — Forest, or timber- 
ed Land — Knobs, Bluffs, Ravines and Sink-holes — 
Rivers, &c. — Animal, Mineral and Vegetable Pro- 
ductions — 5Ianufactures — Civil Divisions — Tabular 
View of the Counties — Sketch of each County — 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Towns Projected Improvements Education 

Government — General Remarks, 256 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Missouri. 
Extent and Boundaries — Civil Divisions — Population 
at different Periods — Surface, Soil and Produc- 
tions — Towns, 320 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Arkansas. 
Situation and Extent — Civil Divisions — Rivers — Face 
of the Country — Soil — Water — Productions — Cli- 
mate — Minerals — State of Society, 328 

CHAPTER XV. 

Wisconsin. 

Boundaries and Extent — Rivers — Soil — Productions — 
Towns, &c., 334 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Literary and Religious Institutions. ^ 
Colleges — Statistical Sketch of each Denomination — 
Field for Effort, and Progress made, 340 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Suggestions to Emigrants. 
Canal, Steam-boat and Stage Routes — Other Modes of 
Travel — Expenses — Roads — Distances, &c., . . . .371 



INTRODUCTION 



Much has been published already about the West,— 
the Great West, — the Valley of the Mississippi; 
— but no portion of this immense and interesting region is 
so much the subject of inquiry, and so particularly excites 
the attention of the emigrant, as the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Missouri and Michigan, with the adjacent territorial 
regions. 

All these States have come into existence, as such, with 
the exception of Ohio, within the last twenty years; and 
much of the territory, now adorned by the hand of civiliza- 
tion, and spread over with an enterprising, industrious and 
intelligent people, — the field of public improvements in ca- 
nals and railways, — of colleges, churches, and other institu- 
tions, — was the hunting ground of the aborigines, and the 
scene of border warfare. These States have been unparal- 
leled in their growth, both in the increase of population 
and property, and in the advance of intellectual and moral 
improvement. Such an extent of forest was never before 
cleared, — such a vast field of prairie was never before sub- 
dued and cultivated by the hand of man, in the same short 
period of time. Cities, and towns, and villages, and coun- 
ties, and States, never before rushed into existence and 
made such giant strides, as upon this field. 

" Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such 
things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one 
day? or shall a nation be born at once!""* 
* Isaiah 6C; 8 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

The rapid increase of population will be exhibited in a 
tabular form, in the following pages, and other parts, show- 
ing that the general improveujent of the country, and the 
development of its physical, intellectual and moral resources 
have kept pace with the extension of settlements. And 
such are its admirable facilities for commerce, by its nu- 
merous navigable rivers, and its lines of canals, some of 
which are finished, and many others commenced or pro- 
jected, — such th*^ richness of its soil and the variety of its 
productions, — such the genial nature of its climate, — the 
enterprise of its population, and the influence it must soon 
wield in directing the destinies of the whole United States, 
— as to render the Great AVest an object of the deepest 
interest to the American patriot. To the philanthropist and 
Christian, the character and manners, the institutions, lit- 
erature and religion of so wide a portion of our country, 
whose mighty energies are soon to exert a controlling in- 
fluence over the character of the whole nation, and in 
some measure of the world, — are not less matters of mo- 
mentous concern. 

-' 'I'he West is a young empire of mind, and power, and 
wealth, raid free institutions, rushing up to a giant manhood 
with a rapidity and power never before witnessed below 
the sun. And if she carries with her the elements of her 
preservation, the experiment will be glorious, — the joy of 
the nation, — the joy of the whole earth, as she rises in the 
majesty of her intelligence, and benevolence, and enterprise, 
for the emancipation of the world."* 

Amongst the causes that have awakened the attention of 
the community in the Atlantic States to this great Valley, 
and excited the desires of multitudes to remove hither, may 
be reckoned the eflbrts of the liberal and benevolent to aid 
the West in the innnediale supply of her population with 
the Bible, with Sunday schools, with religious tracts, with 
the gospel ministry, and to lay the foundation for colleges 
and other literary institutions. Hundreds of families, who 
might otherwise have remained in the crowded cities and 
densely populated neighborhoods of their ancestors, have 

* Boecher. 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

had their attention directed to these States as a permanent 
home. And thousands more, of virtuous and industrious 
families, would follow, and fix their future residence on 
our prahies, and in our western forests, cultivate our wild 
lands, aid in building up our towns and cities, and diffuse 
a healthful, moral and intellectual influence through the 
mass of our present population, could they feel assured 
that they can reach some portion of the Western Valley 
without great risk and expense, provide for their faniilies 
comfortably, and not be swept off by sickness, or over- 
whelmed by suffering beyond what is incident to any new 
country. 

The author's first book, ' A Guide for Emigrants,' 
&c., was written in the winter and spring of 1S31, to an- 
swer the pressing call then made for information of these 
Western S^tates, but more especially that of Illinois; — but 
many of its particulars, as to the character and usages of 
the people, njanners and customs, modes of erecting build- 
ings, general characteristics and qualities of soil, produc- 
tions, &c., were applicable to the West generally. 

Since that period, brief as it has been, wide and rapid 
changes have been made, population has rapidly augment- 
ed, beyond that of any former period of the same extent; 
millions of acres of the public domain, then wild and haidly 
explored, have been brought into market; settlements and 
counties have been foriiipd, and populous towns have 
sprung up, where, at that time, the Indian and wild beast 
had possession; facilities for intercommunication have been 
greatly extended, and distant places have been brought 
comparatively near; the desire to emigrate to the West has 
increased, and every body in the Atlantic States has become 
interested, and inquires about the great Valley. That re- 
spectable place, so much the theme of declamation and in- 
quiry abroad, " the Far VVesl,^' has gone from this region 
towards the setting sun. Its exact locality has not yet 
been settled, but probably it may soon be found along the 
Gulf of California, or near Nootka Sound. And, if distance 
is to be measured by time and the facility of intercourse, 
we are now several hundred miles nearer the Atlantic coast 
than twenty years since. Ten years more, and the facilities 



X INTRODUCTION. 

of railways and improved machinery will place the Mis- 
sissippi within seven days' travel of Boston, six days of 
Washington city, and five days of Charleston, S. C. 

To give a brief, and yet correct account of a portion of 
this great Valley, its resources, the manners and customs of 
its inhabitants, its political subdivisions, cities, commercial 
and other important towns, colleges and other literary in- 
stitutions, religious condition, public lands, qualities of soil 
and general features of each State and Territory named in 
the title page, together with such information as may form 
a kind of manual for the emigrant and man of business, or 
which may aid him on his journey hither, and enable him 
to surmount, successfully, the difficulties of a new country, 
is the object of this new work. In accomplishing this task 
the author has aimed at correctness and brevity. To con- 
dense the particular kind of information called for by the 
public mind, in a small space, has been no easy task. Nor 
has it been a small matter to collect from so wide a range 
as five large States, and two extenive Territories, with 
other large districts, the facts and statistical information 
often found in the compass of 'ess than a page. 

It is an easy task to a belles lettres scholar, sitting at his 
desk, in an easy chair, and by a pleasant fire, to write 
"Histories," and " Geographies," and " Sketches," and 
"Recollections," and "Views," and "Tours," of the 
Western Valley, — but it is quite another concern to ex- 
plore these regions, examine public documents, reconcile 
contradictory statements, correspond with hundreds of per- 
sons in public and private life, read all the histories, geog- 
raphies, tours, sketches and recollections, that have been 
published, and correct their numerous errors, — then col- 
late, arrange, digest, and condense the facts of the country. 
Those who have read his former " Guide for Emigrants," 
will find upon perusal, that this is radically a new vsork — 
rather than a new edition. Its whole plan is changed; and 
though some whole pages of the former w^ork are retained, 
and many of its facts and particulars given in a more con- 
densed form, much of that work being before the public in 
other forms, he has been directed, both by his own judg- 
ment, and the solicitude of the public mind in the Atlantic 
States, to give to the work its present form and features. 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

There are three classes of persons in particular, who may 
derive advantage from this Guide, 

1. All those who intend to remove to the States and 
Territories descrihed. Such persons, whether citizens of 
the Atlantic States, or natives of Europe, will find in this 
small volume much of that species of information for which 
ihey are solicitous. 

It has been a primary object of the author throughout this 
work, to furnish the outline of facts necessary for this class. 
He is aware also, that much in detail will be desired and 
eagerly sought after, which the portable and limited size of 
this little work could not contain; but such information may 
be found in the larger works of Hall, Flint, Darby, School- 
craft, Long, and other authors and travelers. Those who 
desire more specific and detailed descriptions of Illinois, will 
be satisfied, probably, with the author's Gazetteer of 
that State, published in 1834, and which can be had on 
application to the author, or to the publishers of this work. 

2. This Guide is also designed for those, who, for either 
pleasure, health or business, intend to travel through the 
Western States. Such are now the facilities of intercom- 
munication between the Eastern and Western States, and to 
most points in the Valley of the Mississippi, that thousands 
are visiting some portions of this interestitig region every 
month. Some knowledge of (he routes that lead to differ- 
ent parts of this Valley, the lines of steam-boats and stages, 
cities, towns, public institutions, manners and customs of 
the people, &c., is certainly desirable to all who travel. 
Such persons may expect a correct, and it is hoped a pleas- 
ant Guide in this book. 

3. There is a numerous class of persons in the Atlantic 
States, who desire to know more about the Great West, 
and to have a book for reference, who do not expect to 
emigrate here. Many are deeply interested in its moral 
welfire. They have cheerfully contributed to establish 
and build up its literary and religious institutions, and yet 
from wnnt of access to those facts which exist amongst us, 
their information is but partial and limited. The author, 
in his travels in the Atlantic ^"tates, has met with many 
persons, who, though well informed on other subjects, are 



XU INTRODUCTION. 

surprisingly ignorant of the actual condition, resources, so- 
ciety, manners of the people, and even the geography of 
these States and Territories. Ihe author is aware of the 
difficulty of conveying entirely correct ideas of this region, 
to a person v\'ho has never traveled heyond the borders of 
his native State. The laws and habits of associating ideas 
in the human mind forbid it. 

The chief source of information for those States that lie 
on the Mississippi, has been the personal observation of the 
author, — havirig explored most of the settlements in Mis- 
souri and Illinois, and a portion of Indiana and Ohio, — 
having spent more than eighteen years here, and seen the 
two former States, from an incipient Territorial form of 
government, and a few scattered and detached settlements, 
arise to their present state of improvement, population, 
wealth and national importance. His next source of in- 
formation has been from personal acquaintance and corres- 
pondence with many intelligent citizens of the States and 
Territories he describes. Reference has also been had to 
the works of flail, Flint, Darby, Breckenridge, Beck, Long, 
Schoolcraft, Lewis and Clarke, Mitchell's .and Tanner's 
Maps, Farmer's Map of Michigan, TurnbuU's Map of Ohio, 
Ohio Gazetteer, Indiana Gazetteer, Dr. Drake's writings, 
MToy's Annual Register of Indian Aifairs, Ellicott's Sur- 
veys, and several periodicals. J. M. P. 

Rode Spring, IllinoU, January, 18E6. 



GUIDE TO EMIGRANTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

Its Extent — Subdivisions — Population — Physical Features 
— Rivers. 



The Valley of the Mississippi, in its proper 
geographical extent, embraces all that portion 
of the United States, lying between the Alleg- 
hany and Rocky Mountains, the waters of 
which are discharged into the gulf of Mexico, 
through the mouths of the Mississippi. I have 
embraced, however, under that general term, 
a portion of the country bordering on the 
northern lakes, including the north part of 
Ohio, the north-eastern portions of Indiana 
and Illinois, the whole of Michigan, with a 
considerable territorial district on the west 
side of lake Michigan, and around lake Su- 
perior. 

Extent. This great Valley is one of the 



16 



largest divisions of the globe, the waters of 
which pass one estuary. 

To suppose the United States and its terri- 
tory to be divided into three portions, the ar- 
rangement would be, the Atlantic slope, — the 
Mississippi basin, or valley, — and the Pacific 
slope. 

A glance on any map of North America, 
will show that this Valley includes about two- 
thirds of the territory of the United States. 
The Atlantic slope contains about 390,000; 
the Pacific slope, about 300,000; which, com- 
bined, are 690,000 square miles; while the 
Valley of the Mississippi contains, at least, 
1,300,000 square miles, or 833,000,000 acres. 

This Valley extends from the 29° to the 49° 
of north latitude, or about 1400 miles from south 
to north; and from the 3° to the 35° of longi- 
tude west from Washington, or about 1470 
miles from east to west. From the source of 
the Alleghany river to the sources of the 
Missouri, following the meanderings of the 
streams, is not less than 5000 miles. 

Subdivisions. The States and Territories 
included, are a small section of New York, 
watered by the heads of the Alleghany river, 
Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Arkansas, Indian Territory, the vast unsettled 
regions lying to the west and north of this 
Territory, the Wisconsin Territory, including 
an extensive country west of the Mississip- 
pi, and north of the State of Missouri, with 



GENERAL VIE'.V, 17 

tiie vast regions that lie towards the heads 
oi'the ?'Ii.^sissippi, and around lake Superior.* 

Popidaiim. Probably, there is no portion 
of the globo, of equal extent, that contains as 
much of sril fit for cultivation, and which is 
capable of sustaining and supplying with all 
the necessaries and conveniences, and most 
of the luxuricf! of life, so dense a population 
as this great Valley. Deducting one third of 
its surface, for water and desert, which is a 
very liberal allov/ance, and there remains 
866, G67 square miles, or 554,666,880 acres 
of arable land. 

The following tabi3, gives a comparative 
view of the population of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, and shows the proportional in- 
crease of the several States, parts of States, 
and Territories, from 1790 to the close of 
1835, a period of forty-five years. The col- 
umn for 1835, is made up, partly, from the 
census, taken in several St:'.tes and Territo- 
ries, and partly by estimation. It is sufficient- 
ly accurate, for general purposes: 

* Why the names, Huron, 3Iandan, Fioux, Osage, and 
Ozark have been applied by Darby, and (!;her authors, to 
the extensive regions on the Upper Mississippi, the Upper 
Missouri, and the Arkansas rivers, I am not able to solve. 
Os'ige is a French corruption of IVos-sosh-c , and Ozark 
is an awkward, illiterate corruption of Au Kaiizau. Sioux 
is another French corruption, the origin of which is not 
now easily ascertained. Carver, and other travellers, call 
this nation of Indians, Nau-do-wes-sees. Chiefs of this 
nation have repeatedly disclaimed the name of Sioux (pro- 
nounced Soos). They sometimes call themselves Da-co-tah. 
2 



PECK S GUIDE. 





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GENERAL VIEW. 19 

Let this Valley become as populous as Mas- 
sachusetts, which contains610,014inhabitants, 
on an area of 7800 square miles, or seventy- 
eight to every 640 acres, and the population of 
this immense region will amount to 67,600,000, 
The child is now born which will live to see 
this result. Suppose its population to become 
equally dense with England, including Wales, 
which contains 207 to the square mile, and its 
numbers will amount to 179,400,000. But let 
it become equal to the Netherlands, the most 
populous country on the globe, containing 230 
to the square mile, and the Valley of the Mis- 
sissippi teems with a population of two hun- 
dred millions, — a result which may be had in 
the same time that New England has been 
gathering its two millions. What reflections 
ought this view to present to the patriot, the 
philanthropist, and the Christian! 

Physical Features. The physical features 
of this Valley are peculiar. 

1. It includes two great inclined planes, 
one on its eastern, and the other on its west- 
ern border, terminating with the Mississippi. 

2. This river receives all the waters pro- 
duced on these slopes, which are discharged 
by its mouths into the gulf of Mexico. 

3. Every part of this vast region can be 
penetrated by steam-boats, or other water 
craft ; nor is there a spot in all this wide re- 
gion, excepting a small district in the vast 
plains of Upper Missouri, that is more than 
one hundred miles from some navigable water. 



20 peck's guide. 

A boat may take in its lading on the banks of 
the Chatauque lake, in the State of New York ; 
another may receive its cargo in the interior 
of Virginia; a third may start from the rice 
lakes, at the head of the Mississippi; and a 
fourth may come, laden with furs, from the 
Chippewan mountains, 2800 miles up the 
Missouri, and all meet at the mouth of the 
Ohio, and proceed in company to the ocean. 

4. With the exception of its eastern and 
western borders, there are no mountains. 
Some portions are level; a large part is gently 
undulating, or what in the West is called 
"rolling;" and the remainder is made up of 
abrupt hills, flint and limestone ridges, bluffs 
and ravines. 

5. It is divided into two great portions, — the 
Upper and Lowefi Valley, according to its 
general features, climate, staple productions, 
and habits of its population. The parallel of 
latitude that cuts the mouth of the Ohio river, 
will designate these portions with sufficient 
accuracy. 

North of this line, the seasons are regularly 
divided into spring, summer, autumn, and 
winter. In the winter there is usually more 
or less snow: ice forms, and frequently blocks 
up the rivers, and navigation is obstructed. 
Cotton is not produced in sufficient quantity 
or quality to make it a staple for exportation. 
It is the region of furs, minerals, tobacco, 
hemp, live stock, and every description of 
grain and fruit that grows in New England. 



GENERAL VIEW. 21 

Its white population are mostly accustomed 
to labor. 

South of this line, cotton, tobacco, indigo, 
and sugar, are staples. It has little winter; 
snow seldom covers the earth; ice never ob- 
structs the rivers; and most of the labor is 
done by slaves. 

Rivers. The rivers are the Mississippi and 
its tributaries; or, more correctly, the Mis- 
souri, and its tributaries. If we except the 
Amazon, no river can compare with this, 
for length of its course, the number and ex- 
tent of its tributaries, the vast country they 
drain, and their capabilities for navigation. 
Its tributaries generally issue either from the 
eastern or western mountains, and flow over 
this immense region, difl^using not only fertili- 
ty to the soil, but atfording facilities for com- 
merce a great part of the year. 

The Missouri is unquestionably the main 
stream, for it is not only longer, and dis- 
charges a larger volume of water, than 
the Mississippi, above its mouth, but it has 
branches, which, for the extent of country 
they drain, their length, and the volume of 
water they discharge, far exceed the Upper 
Mississippi. 

The characteristics of these two rivers are 
each distinctly marked. The Missouri is tur- 
bid, violent in its motions, changing its cur- 
rents; its navigation is interrupted, or made 
difficult, by snags, sawyers, and planters; and 
it has many islands and sand-bars. Such is 



22 peck's guide. 

the character of the Mississippi, below the 
mouth of the Missouri. But above its mouth, 
its waters are clear, its current gentle, while 
it is comparatively free from snags and sand- 
bars. 

The Missouri, which we have shown to be 
the principal stream, rises in the Chippewan, 
or Rocky mountains, in latitude 44° north, 
and longitude about 35° west from Washing- 
ton city. It runs a north-east course, till after 
it receives the Yellow Stone, when it reaches 
past the 48th degree of latitude ; thence 
an east, then a south, and, finally, a south- 
eastern course, until it meets the current of 
the Mississippi, twenty miles above St. Louis, 
and in latitude 38° 45' north. Besides nu- 
merous smaller streams, the Missouri receives 
the Yellow Stone and Platte, which of them- 
selves, in any other part of the world, would 
be called large rivers, together with the 
Sioux, Kausau, Grand, Chariton, Osage, and 
Gasconade, all large and navigable rivers. 

Its length, upon an entire comparative 
course, is 1870 miles, and, upon a particular 
course, about 3000 miles. Lewis and Clark 
make the distance from the Mississippi to the 
great falls, 2580 miles. 

There are several things in some respects 
peculiar to this river, which deserve notice: 

1. Its current is very rapid, usually at the 
rate of four or five miles an hour, when at its 
height; and it requires a strong wind to pro- 
pel a boat, with a sail, against it. Steam over- 



GENERAL VIEW. 'Z^ 

comes its force, for boats ply regularly from 
St. Louis to the towns and landings on its 
hanks, within the borders of the State, and 
return with the produce of the country. Small 
steam-boats have gone to the Yellow Stone 
for furs. 

Owing to the shifting of its current, and its 
snags and sand-bars, its navigation is less safe 
and pleasant than any other western river, but 
these difficulties are every year lessened by 
genius and enterprise. 

2. Its water is always turbid, being of a 
muddy ash color, though more so at its peri- 
odical rise than at other times. This is caused 
by extremely line sand, received from the 
neighborhood of the Yellow Stone. During 
the summer flood, a tumbler of water taken 
from the Missouri, and precipitated, will pro- 
duce about one fourth of its bulk in sediment. 

This sediment does not prevent its habitual 
use by hundreds who live on its banks, or 
move in boats over its surface. Some filtrate 
it, but many more drink it, and use it for 
culinary purposes, in its natural state. 

When entirely filtrated, it is the most lim- 
pid and agreeable river water I ever saw. 
Its specific gravity is then about equal to 
rain water; but, in its turbid state, it is much 
heavier than ordinary river water; for a boat 
will dravv three or four inches less in it than 
in other rivers, with the same lading; and the 
human body will svrim in it with but very little 
effort. 



:^4 PECK S GUIDE, 

It possesses some medicinal properties. 
Placed in an open vessel, and exposed to the 
summer's sun, it remains pure for weeks. 
Eruptions on the skin and ulcerous sores are 
cured by wading or I'requent bathings; and 
it commonly produces slight cathartic effects 
upon strangers, upon its hrst use. 

The width of the Missouri river, at St, 
Charles, is 550 yards. Its alluvial banks, 
however, are insecure, and are not unfre- 
queotly washed away, for many yards, at its 
annual floods. The bed of its channel is also 
precarious, and is elevated, or depressed, by 
the deposition or removal of its sandy founda- 
tion. Hence, the elevation or depression of 
the surface of this river affords no criterion 
of its depth, or of the volume of water it dis- 
charges at any one period. 

Undulatory motions, like the boiling of a 
pot, are frequently seen on its surface, caused 
by the shifting cf the sand that forms its bed. 

The volume of water it ordinarily discharges 
into the Mississippi, is vastly disproportionate 
to its length, or the number and size of its 
tributaries. I have seen less than six feet 
depth of water at St. Charles, at a low stage, 
and it was once forded by a soldier, at Belle- 
Fontaine, four miles above its junction with 
the Mississippi. 

Evaporation takes up large quantities, but 
absorption, throughout the porous soil of its 
wide bottoms, consumes much more. In all 
the wells duir in the bottom lands of the Mis- 



GENERAL VIEW. 25 

souri, water is always found at the depth of 
the surface of the river, and invariably rises 
or sinks with the floods and ebbings of the 
stream. Sand frequently enters these wells 
as the river rises. 

Its periodical floods deserve notice. Ordi- 
narily, this river has three periods of rising 
and falling, each year. The first rise is 
caused by the breaking up of winter on the 
Gasconade, Osage, Kausau, Chariton, Grand, 
and other branches of the Lower Missouri, and 
occurs the latter part of February, or early 
in March. Its second rise is usually in April, 
when the Platte, Yellow Stone, and other 
streams pour into it their spring floods. But 
the flood, that more usually attracts attention, 
takes place from the 10th to the 25th of June, 
when the melting snows on the Chippewan 
mountains pour their contents into the Mis- 
souri. This flood is scarcely ever less than 
five, nor more than twenty feet, at St. Louis, 
above the ordinary height of the river. On 
two occasions, however, since the country 
was known to the French, it has risen to 
that height in the Mississippi, as to flow over 
the American bottom, in Illinois, and drive 
the inhabitants of Cahokia and Kaskaskia 
from their villages to the bluffs. Rain, in 
greater or less quantities, usually falls during 
the rise of the river, and ceases when the 
waters subside. So uniform is this the case 
in Upper Missouri, the region beyond the 
boundary of the State, that the seasons are 
divided into wet and dry. 



26 peck's guide. 

Pumice stone, and other volcanic produc- 
tions, occasionally float down its waters. 

Mississippi River. The extreme head of 
the longest branch of the Mississippi river 
has been found in lake Itaska, or Lac la 
Biche, by Mr. Schoolcraft, who states it to 
be elevated 1500 feet above the Atlantic 
ocean, and distant 3160 miles from the ex- 
treme outlet of the river, at the gulf of Mexico. 
The outlet of Itaska lake, which is connected 
with a string of small lakes, is ten or twelve 
feet broad, and twelve or fifteen inches deep. 
This is in latitude about 48° north. From 
this, it passes Cedar, and several smaller 
lakes, and runs a winding course, 700 miles, 
to the falls of St. Anthony, where its waters 
are precipitated over a cataract of sixteen or 
seventeen feet, perpendicular. It then con- 
tinues a south-eastern course, to the Missouri, 
in latitude 38° 38' north, receiving the St. 
Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Rock, and Il- 
linois rivers, with many smaller streams from 
the east, and the St. Peter's Iowa, Des Moines 
and Salt rivers, besides a number of smaller 
ones from the west. The current of the Mis- 
souri strikes that of the Mississippi, at right 
angles, and throws it upon the eastern shore. 
When at a low stage, the waters of the tv/o 
rivers are distinct till they pass St. Louis. 

The principal branch of the Upper Missis- 
sippi is the St. Peter's, which rises in the 
great prairies in the north-west, and enters 
the parent stream ten miles below the falls of 



GENERAL VIEW. 27 

St. Anthony. Towards the sources of this 
river the quarries exist from which are made 
the red stone pipes of the Indians. This is 
sacred ground: hostile tribes meet here, and 
part unmolested. 

Rock river drains the waters from the north- 
ern part of Illinois and Wisconsin, and enters 
the parent stream, at latitude 41° 30' north. 
In latitude 39° comes in the Illinois (signify- 
ing the "River of Men"); and, eighteen miles 
below this, it unites with, and is lost in the 
Missouri. 

Custom has fixed, unalterably, the name 
Mississippi to this united body of waters, that 
rolls its turbid waves towards the Mexican 
gulf; though, as has been intimated, it is but 
a continuation of the Missouri. 

Sixty miles below St. Louis, the Kaskaskia 
joins it, after a devious course of 400 miles. 
In latitude 37° north, the Ohio pours in its 
tribute (called by the early French explorers, 
"La Belle Riviere," — the beautiful river). A 
little below 34° the White river enters, after 
a course of more than 1000 miles. Thirty 
miles below that, the Arkansas, bringing its 
tribute from the confines of Mexico, pours in 
its waters. Above Natchez, the Yazoo, from 
the east, and, eighty miles below, the Red 
river, from the west, unite their waters with 
the Mississippi. Red river takes its rise in 
the Mexican dominions, and runs a course of 
more than 2000 miles. 

Hitherto, the waters in the wide regions 



28 peck's guide. 

of the West have been congregating to one 
point. The " Father of Waters " is now up- 
wards of a mile in width, and several fathoms 
deep. During its annual floods, it overflows 
its banks, below the mouth of the Ohio, and 
penetrates the numerous bayous, lakes and 
swamps, and especially on its western side. 
In many places, these floods extend thirty or 
forty miles into the interior. But after it re- 
ceives the Red river, it begins to throw off* its 
surplus waters, which flow in separate chan- 
nels to the gulf, and never again unite with 
the parent stream. Several ol" these commu- 
nications are held with the ocean, at different 
and distant points. 

Ohio River. The Ohio river is formed by 
the junction of the Alleghany and Mononga- 
hela, at Pittsburgh. The Alleghany river 
rises not far from the head of the western 
branch of the Susquehannah, in the highlands 
of McKean county, Pennsylvania. It runs 
north, till it penetrates Cataraugus county, 
New York; then turns west, then south-west, 
and finally takes a southern course, to Pitts- 
burgh. It receives a branch from the Cha- 
tauque lake, Chatauque county, New York. 
The Monongahela rises near the sources of 
the Kenawha, in Western Virginia, and runs 
north till it meets the Alleghany. 

The general course of the Ohio is south- 
west. Its current is gentle, and it receives a 
number of tributaries, which are noticed in 
the States where they run. 



GENERAL VIEW. 29 

The Valley of the Mississippi has been ar- 
ranged, by Mr. Darby, into four great subdi- 
visions: 

1. The Ohio Valleij, — length, 750 miles, and 
mean width, 261; containing 196,000 square 
miles, 

2. Mississippi Valley, above Ohio, includ- 
ing the minor valley of Illinois, but exclusive 
of Missouri, 650 miles long, and 277 mean 
width, and containing 180,000 square miles. 

3. Lower Valley of the Mississippi, includ- 
ing White, Arkansas, and Red river valleys, 
1000 miles long, and 200 wide, containing 
200,000 square miles. 

4. Missouri Proper, including Osage, Kau- 
sau, Platte rivers. Etc., 1200 miles long, and 
437 wide, containing 523,000 square miles. 

"The Valley of the Ohio is better known 
than any of the others; has much fertile land, 
and much that is sterile, or unfit for cultiva- 
tion, on account of its unevenness. It is di- 
vided into two unequal portions, by the Ohio 
river; leaving on the right, or north-west side, 
80,000, and on the left, or south-east side, 
116,000 square miles. The eastern part of 
this valley is hilly, and rapidly acclivous to- 
wards the Appalachian mountains. Indeed, its 
high hills, as you approach these mountains, 
are of a strongly marked mountainous char- 
acter. Of course, the rivers which flow into 
the Ohio, — the Monongahela, Kenawha, Lick- 
ing, Sandy, Kentucky, Green, Cumberland 
and Tennessee, — are rapid, and abounding 



30 peck's guide. 

in cataracts and falls, which, towards their 
sources, greatly impede navigation. The 
western side of this Valley is also hilly, for 
a considerable distance from the Ohio, but, 
towards its western limit, it subsides to a 
remarkably level region; so that, whilst the 
eastern line of this Valley lies along the high 
table land, on which the Appalachian moun- 
tains rest, and where the rivers of the eastern 
section of this Valley rise (which is at least 
2000 miles, generally, above the ocean level), 
the western line has not an elevation of much 
more than half of that amount on the north, and 
which greatly subsides towards the Kaskaskia. 
The rivers of the western section are Beaver, 
Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, Miama, 
and Vv^abash. x41ong the Ohio, on each side, 
are high hills, often intersected with deep ra- 
vines, and sometimes openings of considerable 
extent, and well known by the appellation of 
'Ohio Hills.' Towards the mouth of the 
Ohio, these hills almost wholly disappear, 
and extensive level bottoms, covered with 
heavy forests of oak, sycamore, elm, poplar 
and cotton-wood, stretch along each side of 
the river. On the lower section of the river, 
the water, at the time of the spring floods, 
often overflows these bottoms to a great ex- 
tent. This fine Valley embraces considerably 
more than one half of the whole population of 
the entire Valley of the West. The western 
parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the entire 
States of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, the 



GENERAL VIEW. 31 

larger part of Tennessee, and a smaller part 
of Illinois, are in the Valley of the Ohio." 

The Upper Valley of the Mississipjn pos- 
sesses a surface far less diversified than the 
Valley of the Ohio. The country, where its 
most northern branches take their rise, is 
elevated table land, abounding with marshes 
and lakes, that are filled with a graniferous 
vegetable, called wild rice. It is a slim, 
shriveled grain, of a brownish hue, and 
gathered by the Indians, in large quantities, 
for food. There are tracts of arable land, 
covered with elm, linden, pine, hemlock, 
cherry, maple, birch, and other timber com- 
mon to a northern climate. From the same 
plateau flow the numerous branches of Red 
river, and other streams that flow into lake 
Winnipec, and thence into Hudson's bay. 
Here, too, are found some of the head 
■branches of the waters of St. Lawrence, that 
enter the Lake of the Woods and Superior. 
In the whole country of which we are speak- 
ing, there is nothing that deserves the name 
of mountain. Below the falls of St. Anthony 
the river bluffs are often abrupt, wild and 
romantic; and at their base and along the 
streams are thousands of quartz crystals, cor- 
nelians, and other precious stones. 

But a short distance in the rear, you en- 
ter upon table land of extensive prairies, 
with clumps of trees, and groves, along the 
streams. Further down, abrupt cliffs, and 
overhanging precipices, are frequently seen 
at the termination of the river alluvion. 



32 peck's guide. 

The whole country north-west of the Ohio, 
and east of the Mississippi, as far north as the 
falls of St. Anthony, exhibit striking marks of 
a diluvial formation, by a gradual retiring of 
the waters. From the summit level that di- 
vides the waters of the lakes from those of 
the Mississippi, through Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, and Wisconsin, which is scarcely a per- 
ceptible ridge, to the south point of Illinois, 
at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, 
appears to have once been a plane, with an 
inclination equal to twelve or fifteen inches 
per mile. The ravines and valleys appear to 
have been gradually scooped out by the abra- 
sion of the waters. 

"The Longer Mississippi Valley has a 
length of 1'200 miles, from north-west to 
south-east, considering the source of the Ar- 
kansas and the mouth of the Mississippi river 
as extreme points; reaching from latitude 29° 
to 42° north, and, without estimating moun- 
tains, ridges or peaks, differs in relative ele- 
vation at least 500 feet. 

" The Arkansas river rises near latitude 42° 
north, and longitude 32° west from Washing- 
ton, and falls into the Mississippi at 33° 56', 
passing over eight degrees of latitude. 

" Red river rises in the mountainous coun- 
try of Mexico, north of Texas, in latiude 34° 
north, and longitude 29° west from Washing- 
ton, and falls into the Mississippi in latitude 
31°. They are both remarkable rivers, for 
their extent, the number of their branches, 



GENERAL VIEW. 33 

the volume of their waters, the quantity of al- 
luvion they carry down to the parent stream, 
and the color of their waters. Impregnated 
by saline particles, and colored with ocherous 
earth, the waters of these two rivers are at 
once brackish and nauseous to the taste, par- 
ticularly near their mouths: that of Red river 
is so much so at Natchitoches, at low water, 
that it cannot be used for culinary purposes. 

"At a short distance below the mouth of 
the Red river, a large bayou (as it is called), 
or outlet, breaks from the Mississippi, on the 
west; by which, it is believed, as large a 
volume of water as the Red river brings to 
the parent river, is drained off, and runs to 
the gulf of Mexico, fifty miles from the mouth 
of the Mississippi. The name of this bayou 
is Atchafalaya, or, as it is commonly called, 
Chaffalio. Below this bayou, another of large 
dimensions breaks forth on the same side, and 
finally falls into the Atchafalaya. This is the 
Placquemine. Still lower, at Donaldsonville, 
ninety miles above New Orleans, on the same 
side, the Lafourche bayou breaks out, and 
pursues a course parallel to the Mississippi, 
fifty miles west of the mouth of that river. 
On the east side, the Ibberville bayou drains 
off a portion of the waters of the Mississippi, 
into lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain, Borgnes, 
and the gulf of Mexico, and thus forms the 
long and narrow island of Orleans, 

" In the Lower Valley of the Mississippi 
there is a great extent of land of the very 
2* 



34 peck's guide. 

richest kind. There is also much that is al- 
most always overflown with waters, and is 
a perpetual swamp. There are extensive 
prairies in this Valley ; and towards the Rocky 
mountains, on the upper waters of the Arkan- 
sas and Red rivers, there are vast barren 
steppes, or plains of sand, dreary and barren, 
like the central steppes of Asia, On the east 
of the Mississippi are extensive regions of 
the densest forests, which form a striking 
contrast with the prairies which stretch on 
the west of that great river. 

"The Valley of the Missouri extends 1200 
miles in length, and 700 in width, and em- 
braces 253,000 square miles. The Missouri 
river rises in the Chippewan mountains, 
through eight degrees, or nearly 600 miles. 
The Yellow Stone is its longest branch. 
The course of the Missouri, after leaving the 
Rocky mountains, is generally south-east, un- 
til it unites with the Mississippi. The princi- 
pal branches flow from the south-west. They 
are the Osage, Kausau, Platte, &c. The 
three most striking features of this Valley 
are, 1st. The turbid character of its waters. 
2d. The very unequal volumes of the right 
and left confluences. 3d. The immense pre- 
dominance of the open prairies, over the 
forests which line the rivers. The western 
part of this Valley rises to an elevation to- 
wards the Chippewan mountains, equal to ten 
degrees of temperature. Ascending from the 
lower verge of this widely extended plain, 



GENERAL VIEW. 35 

wood becomes more and more scarce, until 
one naked surface spreads on all sides. Even 
the ridges and chains of the Chippewan par- 
take of these traits of desolation. The trav- 
eler, who has read the descriptions of Central 
Asia, by Tooke or Pallas, will feel on the 
higher branches of the Missouri, a resem- 
blance, at once striking and appalling; and 
he will acknowledge, if near to the Chippe- 
wan mountains, in winter, that the utmost in- 
tensity of frost over Siberia and Mongolia 
has its full counterpart in North America, on 
similar, if not on lower latitudes. There is 
much fertile land in the Valley of the Mis- 
souri, though much of it must be for ever the 
abode of the buffalo and the elk, the wolf and 
the deer "* 

■' Darby. 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSLSSIPPL 

(continued.) 

Productions. 

Minerals. But few mines exist in the Low- 
er Valley of the Mississippi. Louisiana being 
chiefly aUuvion, furnishes only two specimens, 
sulphuret of antimony, and meteoric iron ore. 
It is supposed that the pine barrens towards 
Texas, if explored, would add to the number. 

The only minerals in Mississippi are, — ame- 
thyst, of which one crystal has been found; 
potter's clay, at the Chickasaw bluffs, and 
near Natchez; sulphuret of lead, in small 
quantities, about Port Gibson; and sulphate 
of iron. Petrified trunks of trees are found in 
the bed of the Mississippi, opposite Natchez. 
In Arkansas, are various species. Here may 
be found the native magnet, or magnetic 
oxide of iron, possessing strong magnetic 
power. Iron ores are very abundant. Sul- 
phate of copper, sulphuret of zinc, alum, and 



GENERAL VIEW. 37 

aluminous slate are found about the cove of 
Washitau and the hot springs. Buhr stone, 
of a superior quality, exists in the surrounding 
hills. The hot springs are interesting, on ac- 
count of the minerals around them, the heat 
of their waters, and as furnishing a retreat 
to valetudinarians from the sickly regions ot 
the South. They are situated on the Washi- 
tau, a large stream that empties into Red 
river. 

The lead mines of Missouri have been 
worked for more than a century. They are 
distributed through the country, from thirty 
to one hundred miles south-west from St. 
Louis, and probably extend through the Gas- 
conade country. Immense quantities of iron 
ore exist in this region. Lead is found in 
vast quantities, in the northern part of Illinois, 
the south part of Wisconsin Territory, and 
the country on the west side of the Mississip- 
pi. These mines are worked extensively. 
Native copper, in large quantities, is found 
in the same region. Large quantities of iron 
ore is found in the mountainous parts of Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky, where furnaces and 
forges have been erected; also, in the hilly 
parts of Ohio, particularly at the falls of Lick- 
ing, four miles west of Zanesville; and in 
Adams and Lawrence counties, near the Ohio 
river. With iron ore the West is profusely 
supplied. 

Bituminous coal exists, in great profusion, 
in various parts of the Western Valley. The 



38 peck's guide. • 

hills, around Pittsburgh, are inexhaustible. 
It extends through many portions of Ohio and 
Indiana. Nearly every county in Illinois is 
supplied with this valuable article. Missouri, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee have their share. 
Immense quantities are found in the moun- 
tains along the Kenawha, in Western Vir- 
ginia, and it is now employed in the manufac- 
ture of salt. The Cumberland mountains, in 
Tennessee, contain immense deposits. 

Muriate of soda, or common salt, exists in 
most of the States and Territories of this 
Valley. Near the sources of the Arkansas, 
incrustations are formed by evaporation, dur- 
ing the dry season, in the depressed portions 
of the immense prairies of that region. The 
celebrated salt rock is on the red fork of the 
Canadian, a branch of the Arkansas river. 
Jefferson lake has its water strongly impreg- 
nated with salt, and is of a bright red color. 
Beds of rock salt are in the mountains of this 
region. Several counties of Missouri have 
abundant salt springs. Considerable quan- 
tities of salt are manufactured in Jackson, 
Gallatin, and Vermilion counties, Illinois. 
Saline springs, and "licks," as they are 
called, abound through Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Indiana, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, 
and Western Virginia. Salt is manufactured, 
in great abundance, at the Kenawha salines, 
sixteen miles above Charlestown, Va., and 
brought down the Kenawha river, and carried 
to all the Western States. Much salt is made 



• GENERAL VIEW. 39 

also on the Kiskiminitas, a branch of the 
Alleghany river, at the Yellow creek, above 
Steubenville, and in the Scioto country, in 
Ohio. The water is frequently obtained by 
boring through rock, of different strata, sev- 
eral hundred feet deep. 

Copper, antimony, manganese, and several 
other minerals, are found in different parts of 
the West, but are not yet worked. JVitrate 
of potash is found in great abundance, in the 
caverns of Kentucky and Tennessee, also in 
Missouri, from which large quantities of salt- 
petre are manufactured. Sulphate of magnesia 
is found in Kentucky, Indiana, and perhaps 
other States. Sulphur, and other mineral 
springs, are very common in the Western 
States. 

Vegetable Productions, Trees, Sfc. Almost 
every species of timber and shrub, common 
to the Atlantic States, is found in some part 
of the Western Valley. The cotton-wood and 
sycamore are found along all the rivers below 
the 41st deg. of north latitude. The cypress 
begins near the mouth of the Ohio, and spreads 
through the alluvion portions of the Lower 
Valley. The magnolia, with its large, beau- 
tiful flower, grows in Louisiana, and the long 
leaf pine flourishes in the uplands of the same 
region. The sugar-maple abounds in the 
northern and middle portions. The chestnut 
is found in the eastern portion of the Valley, 
as far as Indiana, but not a tree is known to 
exist in a natural state, west of the Wabash 



40 peck's guide. 

river. Yellow or pitch pine grows in sev- 
eral counties of Missouri, especially on the 
Gasconade, from whence large quantities of 
lumber are brought to St. Louis. White 
pine, from the Alleghany river, is annually 
sent to all the towns on the Ohio, and further 
down. Considerable quantities of white pine 
grow on the Upper Mississippi, along the 
western shore of Michigan, about Green Bay, 
and along the shores of lake Superior. The 
yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a 
majestic tree, valuable for light boards, and 
may be found in some parts of most of the 
Western States. The beech tree is frequently 
found in company. The live-oak, so valuable 
in ship-building, is found south of the 31st. de- 
gree, and along the Louisiana coast. The 
orange, fig, olive, pine-apple, &c., find a genial 
climate about New Orleans. High in the north, 
we have the birch, hemlock, fir, and other 
trees peculiar to a cold region. Amongst our 
fruit-bearing trees, we may enumerate the 
walnut, hickory, or shag-bark, persimmon, 
pecaun, mulberry, crab-apple, paupau, wild 
plum, and wild cherry. The vine grows 
every where. Of the various species of oak, 
elm, ash, linden, backberry, &c., it is un- 
necessary to speak. Where forests abound, 
the trees are tall and majestic. In the prairie 
country, the timber is usually found on the 
streams, or in detached groves. 

In the early settlement of Kentucky, there 
were found, south of Green river, large 



GENERAL VIEW. 41 

tracts, with stunted, scattering trees, inter- 
mixed with hazel and brushwood. From this 
appearance it was inferred that the soil was 
of inferior quality, and these tracts were de- 
nominated "barrens." Subsequently, it was 
found that this land was of prime quality. 
The term "barrens " is now applied, exten- 
sively, in the West, to the same description 
of country. It distinguishes an intermediate 
grade, from forest and prairie. A common 
error has prevailed abroad, that our prairie 
land is wet. Prairie is a French word, sig- 
nifying meadoic, and is applied to any descrip- 
tion of surface, that is destitute of timber and 
brushwood, and clothed with grass. Wet, 
dry, level, and undulating, are terms of de- 
scription, merely, and apply to prairies in 
the same sense as they do to forests. The 
prairies, in summer, are clothed with grass, 
herbage and flowers ; exhibit a delightful 
prospect, and furnish most abundant and 
luxuriant pasturage for stock. Much of the 
forest land, in the Western Valley produces 
a fine range for domestic animals and swine. 
Thousands are raised, and the emigrant 
grows wealthy, from the bounties of nature, 
with but little labor. 

Of animals, birds, and reptiles, little need 
be said. The buffalo was in Illinois the be- 
ginning of the present century. They are 
not found now, within three hundred miles of 
Missouri and Arkansas, and they are fast re- 
ceding. Deer are found still in all frontier 
3 



42 peck's guide. 

settlements. Wolves, foxes, racoons, wild 
cats, opossums and squirrels are plenty. 
The brown bear is still hunted in some parts 
of the Western States. Col. Crockett was a 
famous bear-hunter, in Western Tennessee. 
The white bear, mountain sheep, antelope 
and beaver, are found in the defiles cf the 
Rocky mountains. The elk is still found by 
the hunter contiguous to newly formed settle- 
ments. All the domestic animals of the 
United States flourish here. 

Nearly all the feathered tribe of the Atlan- 
tic slope are to be found in the Valley. Peli- 
cans, wild geese, swans, cranes, ducks, paro- 
quets, wild turkies, prairie hens, &c., are 
found in different States, especially on the 
Mississippi. 

Reptiles. The rattlesnake, copperhead 
snake, moccasin snake, bull snake, and the 
various snakes usually found in the Atlantic 
States, are here. Of the venomous kinds, mul- 
titudes are destroyed by the deer and swine. 
Chameleons and scorpions exist in the Lower 
Valley, and lizards, every where. The al- 
ligator, an unwieldy and bulky animal, is 
found in the rivers and lakes south of latitude 
34° north. He sometimes destroys calves 
and pigs, and, very rarely, even young chil- 
dren. 

History. The honor of the discovery of this 
country is disputed by the Spanish, English 
and French. It is probable that Sebastian 
Cabot sailed along the shores of what was 



GENERAL VIEW. 43 

afterwards called Florida, but a few years 
after Columbus discovered America. Span- 
ish authors claim that Juan Ponce de Leon 
discovered and named Florida, in 1512. Nar- 
vaez, another Spanish commander, having 
obtained a grant of Florida, in 1528, landed 
four or five hundred men, but was lost by 
shipwreck, near the mouth of the Mississippi. 
Ferdinand de Soto was probably the first 
white man who saw the Mississippi river. 
He is said to have marched 1000 men from 
Florida, through the Chickasaw country, to 
the Mississippi, near the mouth of Red river, 
where he took sick and died. His men re- 
turned. Some writers suppose De Soto trav- 
elled as far north as Kentucky, or the Ohio 
river. This is not probable. 

The French were the first to explore and 
settle the West, and they held jurisdiction 
over the country of Illinois for eighty years, 
when it fell into the hands of the British upon 
the conquest of Canada. 

In 1564, Florida was settled by a colonv 
of Huguenots, under Admiral Coligny, who 
were afterwards massacred by the Spaniards, 
because they were Protestant heretics! 

In 1608, Admiral Champlaine founded Que- 
bec, from which, French settlements spread 
through the Canadas. 

About 1670, the notion prevailed amongst 
the French that visited Canada, that a west- 
ern passage to the Pacific ocean existed. 
They learned from the Indians, that far in 



44 



the west there was a great river, but of its 
course or termination they could learn noth- 
ing. They supposed that this river com- 
municated with the Western ocean. 

To investigate this question, P. Marquette, 
a Jesuit, and Joliet, were appointed by M. 
Talon, the Intendant of New France. Mar- 
quette was well acquainted with the Canadas, 
and had great influence with the Indian tribes. 
They conducted an expedition through the 
lakes, up Green bay and Fox river, to the 
Portage, where it approaches the Wisconsin, 
to which they passed, and descended that 
river to the Mississippi, which they reached 
the 17h of June, 1673. They found a river 
much larger and deeper than it had been 
represented by the Indians. Their regular 
journal was lost on their return to Canada; but 
from the account afterwards given by Joliet, 
they found the natives friendly, and that a tra- 
dition existed amongst them of the residence of 
a "Mon-e-to,'- or spirit, near the mouth of the 
Missouri, which they could not pass. They 
turned their course up the Illinois, and were 
highly delighted with the placid stream, and 
the woodlands and prairies through which it 
flowed. They were hospitably received, and 
kindly treated, by the Illinois, a numerous 
nation of Indians, who were destitute of the 
cruelty of savages. The word " Illinois," or 
"Illini," is said by Hennepin, to signify a 
"full grown man.''^ This nation appears to 
have originally possessed the Illinois country, 



GENERAL VIEW. 45 

and also a portion west of the Mississippi. 
The nation was made up of eight tribes; — 
the Miamies, Michigamies, Mascotins, Kas- 
kaskias Kahokias, Peorias, Piankeshaws, and 
Tau-mar-waus. 

Marquette continued among these Indians, 
with a view to christianize them; but Joliet 
returned to Canada, and reported the discov- 
eries he had made. 

Several years elapsed before any one at- 
tempted to follow up the discoveries of Mar- 
quette and Joliet. M. de La Salle, a native 
of Normandy, but who had resided many 
years in Canada, was the first to extend these 
early discoveries. He was a man of intelli- 
gence, talents, enterprise, and perseverance. 
After obtaining the sanction of the king of 
France, he set out on his projected expedi- 
tion in 1678, from Frontenac, with Chevalier 
Tonti, his lieutenant, and Father Hennepin, a 
Jesuit missionary, and thirty or forty men. 

He spent about one year in exploring the 
country bordering on the lakes, and in select- 
ing positions for forts and trading posts, to 
secure the Indian trade to the French. After 
he had built a fort at Niagara, and fitted out 
a small vessel, he sailed through the lakes to 
Green bay, then called the "Bay ofPuants." 
From thence he proceeded with his men in 
canoes towards the south end, of lake Michi- 
gan, and arrived at the mouth of the "river 
of the Miamis" in November, 1679. This is 
thought to be the Milwaukee, in Wisconsin 



46 peck's guide. 

Territory. Here he built a fort, left eight or 
ten men, and passed with the rest of his com- 
pany across the country, to the waters of the. 
Illinois river, and descended that river a 
considerable distance, when he was stopped 
for want of supplies. This was occasioned 
by the loss of a boat, which had been sent 
from his post on Green bay. He was now 
compelled by necessity to build a fort, which, 
on account of the anxiety of mind he expe- 
rienced, was called Creve-codur^ or broken 
heart. 

The position of this fort cannot now be as- 
certained, but from some appearances, it is 
thought to have been near Spring bay, in the 
north-east part of Tazewell county. 

At this period, the Illinois were engaged in 
a war with the Iroquois, a numerous, warlike, 
and cruel nation, with whom La Salle had 
traded, while on the borders of Canada. The 
former, according to Indian notions of friend- 
ship, expected assistance from the French; 
but the interests and safety of La Salle de- 
pended upon terminating this warfare, and to 
this object he directed his strenuous efforts. 
The suspicious Illinois construed this into 
treachery, which was strengthened by the 
malicious and perfidious conduct of some of his 
own men, and pronounced upon him the sen- 
tence of death. Immediately he formed and 
executed the bold and hazardous project of 
going alone and unarmed to the camp of the 
Illinois, and vindicating his conduct. He de- 



GENERAL VIEW. 47 

clared his innocence of the charges, and de- 
manded the author. He urged that the war 
should be terminated, and that the hostile na- 
tions should live in peace. 

The coolness, bravery, and eloquence of 
La Salle filled the Indians with astonishment, 
and entirely changed their purposes. The 
calumet was smoked, presents mutually ex- 
changed, and a treaty of amity concluded. 

The original project of discovery was now 
pursued. Father Hennepin started on the 
28th of February, 1680, and, having passed 
down the Illinois, ascended the Mississippi, 
to the falls of St. Anthony. Here he was 
taken prisoner, robbed, and carried to the 
Indian villages, from which he made his es- 
cape, returned to Canada, by the way of the 
Wisconsin, and from thence to France, where 
he published an account of his travels.* 

La Salle visited Canada to obtain sup- 
plies, returned to Creve-coeur, and shortly 
after descended the Illinois and then the Mis- 
sissippi, where he built one or two forts on its 
banks, and took possession of the country in 
the name of the king of France, and in honor 
of him called it Louisiana. 

One of these forts is thought to have been 
built on the west side of the river, between 
St. Louis and Carondalet. 

After descending the ^Mississippi, to its 

* It is difficult to determine when Hennepin writes truth 
or fiction. Some of his statements must be received with 
considerable drawback. 



48 peck's guide. 

mouth, he returned to the Illinois, and on his 
way back, left some of his companions to oc- 
cupy the country. This is supposed to have 
been the commencement of the villages of 
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, in 1683. La Salle 
went to France, fitted out an expedition to 
form a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
sailed to the gulf of Mexico, but not being 
able to find the mouths of that river, he com- 
menced an overland journey to his fort on the 
Illinois. On this journey, he was basely as- 
sassinated by two of his own men,* 

After the death of La Salle, no attempts to 
discover the mouth of the Mississippi were 
made till about 1699, but the settlements in 
the Illinois country were gradually increased 
by emigrants from Canada. 

In 1712, the king of France, by letters pa- 
tent, gave the whole country of Louisiana to 
M. Crosat, Mith the commerce of the country, 
with the profits of all the mines, reserving for 
his own use, one fifth of the gold and silver. 
After expending large sums, in digging and 
exploring for the precious metals, without 
success, Crosat gave up his privilege to the 
king, in 1717. Soon after, the colony was 
granted to the Mississippi company, projected 
by Mr. Law, v/hich took possession of Louis- 

* La Salle appears to have discovered the bay of St. 
Bernard, and formed a settlement on the western side of 
the Colorado, in 1685. — See J. Q. Adams's Correspon- 
dence with Don Onis. Pub. Doc, first session, Jif tee nth 
Congress, 1818. 



GENERAL VIEW. 49 

iana, and appointed M. Bienville, governor. 
In 1719, La Harpe commanded a fort, with 
French troops, not far from the mouth of the 
Missouri river. 

Shortl}' after, several forts were built with- 
in the present limit of Illinois, of which, Fort 
Chartres was the most considerable. By 
these means, a chain of communication was 
formed from Canada, to the mouth of the 
Mississippi. 

In 1699, M. Ibberville arrived in the gulf 
of Mexico, with two frigates, and, in March, 
ascended the river, in a felucca, one hundred 
leagues, and returned by the bayou or outlet 
that bears his name, through lake Ponchar- 
train to the gulf. He planted his colony at 
Biloxi, a healthy but sterile spot, between the 
Mobile and Mississippi rivers, and built a for- 
tification. During several succeeding years, 
much exploring was done, and considerable 
trade carried on with the Indians, for peltries, 
yet these expeditions were a source of much 
expense to France. 

In January, 1702, the colony at Mobile was 
planted; several other settlements were soon 
after formed. The Catholics also commenced 
several missions amongst the Indians. Diffi- 
culties frequently occurred with their Spanish 
neighbors in Florida and Mexico. 

M. Ibberville died in 1706, and M. Bienville 
succeeded him in the government of Louisiana 
for many years. The city of New Orleans 
was founded, during his administration, in 



50 peck's guide. 

1719. It is situated on the east bank of the 
Mississippi, one hundred and five miles from 
its mouth. From 1723 to 1730, the French 
had exterminating wars with the Natchez, a 
powerful nation of Indians. They had killed 
700 French in 1723, and about 1730 the 
French exterminated the nation. Various 
wars took place subsequently with the Span- 
ish and English, But over most of the In- 
dians along the Mississippi, these French 
colonists gained extraordinary influence. Du- 
ring this period, emigrants continued to arrive 
from France, so that the colonists rapidly in- 
creased in numbers. 

The Mississippi land scheme, or "bubble," 
as it was called, originated with the celebra- 
ted John Law, in 1717, which soon burst, and 
spread ruin throughout the moneyed interests 
of France. The amount of stock created, 
was said to equal 310,000,000 of dollars. 
The whole proved an entire failure, but it 
served to increase greatly the population of 
Louisiana, so that, from 1736, the colonies in 
the Lower Valley prospered. 

In 1754, the war commenced between 
France and England relative to the bounda- 
ries of the Canadas. At that period, France 
claimed all the countries west of the Alle- 
ghany mountains, while England, on the other 
hand, had granted to Virginia, Connecticut 
and other colonies, charters which extended 
across the continent to the "South sea," as 
the Pacific ocean was then called. A grant 



GENERAL VIEW. 51 

also was made by Virginia, and the crown of 
Great Britain, of 600,000 acres, to a company 
called "The Ohio Company." The governor 
of New France, as Canada and Louisiana 
was then called, protested, erected forts on 
lake Erie, and at the present site of Pittsburgh, 
and enlisted the Indians against the English 
and Americans. Pittsburgh was then called 
Fort du Quesne. Then followed Braddock's 
war, as this contest is called, in the West, — 
the mission of Major (afterward General) 
Washington, — the defeat of Braddock; and, 
finally, by the memorable victory of Wolfe at 
Quebec, and the lesser ones at Niagara and 
Ticonderoga, and by victories of the English 
fleet on the ocean, the French were humbled, 
and, at the treaty of Paris, in 1763, surren- 
dered all their claims to the country east of 
the Mississippi. Towards the close of the 
war, however, France, by a secret treaty, 
ceded all the country west of the Mississippi, 
and including New Orleans, to Spain, who 
held possession till 1803, when it was deliver- 
ed to the French government under Napoleon, 
and by him ceded to the United States for 
15,000,000 of dollars. 

The English held possession of the military 
posts, and exercised jurisdiction over the 
country of Illinois, and the adjacent regions, 
till 1778, during the revolutionary war; when, 
by a secret expedition, without direct legisla- 
tive sanction, but by a most enterprising, 
skilful, and hazardous military manoeuvre, the 



52 peck's guide. 

posts of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Fort Chartres 
and Vincennes were captured by Gen. George 
Rogers Clark, with a small force of volun- 
teer Americans, and that portion of the Valley 
fell under the jurisdiction of Virginia. 

The legislature of Virginia sanctioned the 
expedition of Clark, which the Executive, 
Patrick Henry and his council, with Thomas 
Jefferson, George Wythe, and George Ma- 
son, by written instructions, had agreed 
should be done, and a county called "Illi- 
nois" was organized the same year. 

In 1784, Virginia, in conjunction with other 
States, ceded all claims to the Great West to 
the United States, reserving certain tracts for 
the payment of revolutionary claims. This 
cession laid the foundation for five new States 
north-west of Ohio, when each district should 
have 60,000 inhabitants, and even a less 
number, by consent of Congress. Two re- 
strictions were peremptorily enjoined, — that 
each State should adopt a constitution with a 
republican form of government, and that slave- 
ry or involuntary servitude should be for 
ever prohibited. 

It is unnecessary here to enter into details 
of the settlement of each particular State, — 
the incessant attacks from the Indians, — the 
border wars that ensued, — the adventures 
of Boone and his associates in settling Ken- 
tucky, — the unfortunate campaigns of Har- 
mar and St. Clair, — the victorious one of 
Wayne, — or the reminiscences and events of 



GENERAL VIEW. 63 

the war of 1812, and its termination in 1815. 
Some historical notices of each State may be 
found in their proper place. 

Prospective Increase of Population. For a 
long period, in the States of the West, the in- 
crease of population was slow, and retarded 
by several causes. Difficulties of a formida- 
ble character had to be surmounted. The 
footsteps of the American emigrants were 
every where drenched in blood, shed by infu- 
riated savage foes, and before 1790, more 
than 5000 persons had been murdered, or 
taken captive and lost to the settlements. 
"It has been estimated, that, in the short 
space of seven years, from 1783 to 1790, 
more than fifteen hundred of the inhabitants 
of Kentucky were either massacred or carried 
away into a captivity worse than death, by 
the Indians ; and an equal number from 
Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, in the 
same period, met with a similar fate. The 
settlers on the frontiers were almost constant- 
ly, for a period of forty years, harassed 
either by actual attacks of the savages, or the 
daily expectation of them. The tomahawk 
and the scalping-knife were the objects of 
their fears by day and by night."* 

Hence, in suggesting reasons showing why 
the population of this Valley must increase in 
future in a far greater ratio than in the past, 
it will appear, 

1. That the most perfect security is now 

* Baird. 



54 peck's guide. 

enjoyed by all emigrants, both for their fami- 
lies and property. 

By the wise and beneficent arrangement of 
government, the Indian tribes have nearly all 
removed to the Territory specially allotted 
for their occupancy vrest of Missouri and Ar- 
kansas. The grand error committed in past 
times in relation to the Indians, and which 
has been the source of incalculable evils to 
both races, has been the want of definite, 
fixed and permanent lines of demarcation be- 
twixt them. It will be seen, under the proper 
head, that a system of measures is now in 
operation that will not only preserve peace 
between the frontier settlements and the In- 
dian tribes, but that, to a great extent, they • 
are becoming initiated into the habits of civil- 
ized liffc. There is now no more danger to 
the population of these States and Territories 
from Indian depredations, than to the people 
of the Atlantic States. 

2. The increased facilities of emigration, 
and the advantage of sure and certain mar- 
kets for every species of production, furnish 
a second reason why population will increase 
in the Western Valley beyond any former pe- 
riod. 

Before the purchase of Louisiana, the west- 
ern people had no outlet for their produce, 
and the chief mode of obtaining every de- 
scription of merchandise, — even salt and iron, 
— was by the slow and expensive method of 



GENERAL VIEW. 55 

transportation by wagons and pack-horses, 
across almost impassable mountains and ex- 
tremely difficult roads. Now, every conven- 
ience and luxury of life is carried, with com- 
parative ease, to every town and settlement 
throughout the Valley, and every species of 
produce is sent off, in various directions, to 
every port on earth, if necessary. And these 
facilities are multiplying and increasing every 
hour. Turnpike roads, rail-roads, canals, 
and steam-boat navigation have already pro- 
vided such facilities for removing from the 
Atlantic to the Western States, that no family 
desirous of removing, need hesitate or make 
a single inquiry as to facilities of getting to 
this country. 

3. The facilities of trade and intercourse 
between the different sections of the Valley, 
are now superior to most countries, and are 
increasing every year. And no country on 
earth admits of such indefinite improvement, 
either by land or water. More than twenty 
thousand miles of actual steam-boat naviga- 
tion, with several hundred miles of canal nav- 
igation, constructed or commenced, attest the 
truth of this statement. The first steam-boat 
on the western waters was built at Pittsburgh 
in 1811, and not more than seven or eight 
had been built, when the writer emigrated to 
this country in 1817. At this period (Janu- 
ary, 1836), there are several hundred boats 
on the western waters, and some of the larg- 
est size. In 1817, about twenty barges. 



56 peck's guide. 

averaging about one hundred tons each, per- 
formed the whole commercial business of 
transporting merchandise from New Orleans 
to Louisville and Cincinnati, Each perform- 
ed one trip, going and returning within the 
year. About 150 keel-boats performed the 
business on the Upper Ohio to Pittsburgh. 
These averaged about 30 tons each, and were 
employed one month in making the voyage 
from Louisville to Pittsburgh. Three days, or 
three days and a half, is now the usual time 
occupied by the steam-packets between the 
two places, and trom seven to twelve days 
between Louisville and New Orleans. Four 
days is the time of passing from the former 
place to St. Louis. 

4. A fourth reason why population will in- 
crease in future in a greater ratio than the 
past, is derived from the increase of popula- 
tion in the Atlantic States, and the greater 
desire for removal to the West. At the close 
of the revolutionary war, the population of 
the whole Union but little exceeded two mil- 
lions. Vast tracts of wilderness then existed 
in the old States, which have since been sub- 
dued, and from whence thousands of enter- 
prising citizens are pressing their way into 
the Great Valley. Two thirds of the territo- 
ry of New York, large portions of New 
Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, an exten- 
sive district in Middle Pennsylvania, to say 
nothing of wide regions in the Southern States, 
were comprised in this wilderness. These 



GEx\ERAL VIEW. 57 

extensive regions have become populous, and 
are sending out vast numbers of emigrants to 
the West. Europe is in commotion, and the 
emigration to North America^ in 183^2, reach- 
ed 200,000, a due proportion of which settle 
in the Western Valley. 

5. A fifth reason will be founded upon the 
immense amount of land for the occupancy of 
an indefinite number of emigrants, much of 
which will not cost the purchaser over one 
dollar and twenty-five cents -per acre. Without 
giving the extravagant estimates that have 
been made by many writers, of the wide and 
uninhabitable desert between the Indian Ter- 
ritory west of Missouri and Arkansas and the 
Rocky mountains, nor swampy and frozen 
regions at the heads of the Mississippi river 
and around lake Superior, I will merely ex- 
hibit the amount of lands admitting of imme- 
diate settlement and cultivation, within the 
boundaries of the new States and organized 
Territories. 

According to the report of the Secretary of 
the Treasury up to the 30th day of Septem- 
ber, 1831, the estimated amount of unsold 
lands, on which the foreign and Indian titles 
had been extinguished, within the limits of the 
new States and Territories, was 227,293,884 
acres; — and that the Indian title remain- 
ed on 113,577,869 acres* within the same 

* See Mr. Clay's Report on the Public Lands, April 26, 
1832, U. S. Papers. 

3* 



58 peck's guide. 

limits. The Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, in December, 1827, estimated 
the public domain, beyond the boundaries 
of the new States and Territories, to be 
750,000,000 of acres. Much of this, how- 
ever, is uninhabitable. 

According to the Report of 1831, there 
had been granted to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
and Alabama, for internal improvements, 
2,187,665 acres; — for colleges, academies, 
and universities, in the new States and Ter- 
ritories, 508,009; — for education, being the 
thirty-sixth part of the public lands appro- 
priated to common schools, 7,952,538 acres; 
— and for seats of government to some of the 
new States and Territories, 21,589 acres. 
Up to January, 1826, there had been sold, 
from the commencement of the land system, 
only 19,239,412 acres. Since that period, to 
the close of 1835, there have been sold, about 
33,000,000 of acres, making in all sold, a 
little more than 52,000,000. This statement 
includes Alabama and Florida, which we have 
not considered as strictly within the Valley. 
After a hasty and somewhat imperfect esti- 
mate of the public lands, that are now in 
market, or will be brought into market within 
a few years, within the limits of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ar- 
kansas, Michigan, and the Territory of Wis- 
consin, the amount may be put at 130,000,000 
of acres. This amount admits of immediate 
settlement and cultivation, and much of it may 



GENERAL VIEW. 59 

be put under cultivation without the immense 
labor of clearing and subduing forest lands. 

The comparison between the amount of 
sales of public lands within the last ten years, 
and the preceding forty years, shows that 
emigration to the West is increasing at a 
ratio beyond what is ordinarily supposed, and 
that the next ten years will find a majority of 
the population of the United States within this 
Great Valley. 

Sales of Land, 

From 1786 to 1826, (forty years) 19,239,412 acres. 
« 1826 " 1835, (ten years) 33,000,000 " 

Three millions of families may find farms in 
the West. 

The extensive prairie lands of Illinois and 
Missouri present no obstacle to the settle- 
ment of the country. Already, prairies, for 
many miles in extent, have been turned into 
farms. 

6. A sixth reason why the increase of the 
future population of the Valley will greatly 
exceed the past, is derived from the increased 
confidence of the community in the general 
health of the country. The most unreason- 
able notions have prevailed abroad relative 
to the health of the Western States. All new 
settlements are more or less unfavorable to 
health, which, when cultivated and settled, 
become healthy. As a separate chapter will 
be devoted to this subject, I only advert to 
the fact now, of the increased confidence of 
the people in the Atlantic States, in the salu- 



60 peck's guide. 

brity of our western climate, which, already, 
has tended to increase emigration; but which, 
from facts becoming more generally known, 
will operate to a much greater extent in future. 

7. I will only add, that there is already a 
great amount of intelligence, and of excellent 
society, in all the settled portions of the West- 
ern Valley. 

" The idea is no longer entertained by east- 
ern people, that going to the West, or the 
'backwoods,' as it was formerly called, is to 
remove to a heathen land, to a land of igno- 
rance and barbarism, where the people do 
nothing but rob, and tight, and gouge! Some 
parts of the W^esi have obtained this charac- 
ter, but most undeservedly, from the Fearons, 
the [Basil] Halls, the Trollopes, and other ig- 
norant and insolent travelers from England, 
who, because they were not allowed to insult 
and outrage as they pleased, with Parthian 
spirit, hurled back upon us their poisoned 
javelins and darts, as they left us. There is, 
indeed, much destitution of moral influence 
and means of instruction in many, very many, 
neighborhoods of the West. But there is, in 
all the principal towns, a state of society, 
with which the most refined, I was going to 
say the most fastidious, of the eastern cities, 
need not be ashamed to mingle."* 

The eastern emigrant will iind, that whole- 
some legislation, and much of the influence 

* Taird. 



GExVERAL VIEW. 61 

of religion, are enjoyed in the Valley of the 
Mississippi; extending to him all he can ask 
in the enjoyment of his rights, and the protec- 
tion of his property. 

Common school systems have been com- 
menced in some of the States; others are 
following their example, and the subject of 
general education is receiving increasing at- 
tention every year. Colleges, and other lit- 
erary institutions, are planted; and religious 
institutions, and means of religious instruc- 
tion, are rapidly increasing. Noble and suc- 
cessful efforts are making by the Bible, mis- 
sionary, tract, Sabbath school, temperance, 
and other societies, in the West. Great and 
rapid changes are taking place, if not to the 
extent we desire, yet corresponding in a de- 
gree with the gigantic march of emigration 
and population. Many other reasons might 
be urged to show that its prospective increase 
of population will vastly exceed the ratio of its 
retrospective increase, but these are sufficient. 



CHAPTER Til 



CLIMATE. 



Comparative View of the Climate with the Atlantic States 
— Diseases — Means of preserving Health. 

In a country of such vast extent, through 
fifteen degrees of latitude, the climate must 
necessarily be various. Louisiana, Mississip- 
pi, and the lower half of Arkansas, lie between 
the latitudes of 30° and 35°, and correspond 
with Georgia and South Carolina. Their 
difference of climate is not material. The 
northern half of Arkansas, Tennessee, and 
Kentucky, lie west from North Carolina and 
the southern portion of Virginia. The cli- 
mate varies from those States only as they are 
less elevated than the mountainous parts of 
Virginia and Carolina. Hence, the emigrant 
from the southern Atlantic States, unless he 
comes from a mountainous region, will ex- 
perience no great change of climate, by 
emigrating to the Lower Mississippi Valley. 
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, lie par- 



CLIMATE. 63 

allel with the northern half of Virginia, Mary- 
land, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
and so much of New York and New England 
as lies south of latitude 42° north. But seve- 
ral circumstances combine to produce varia- 
tions in the climate: 

1. Much of those Atlantic States are hilly, 
and, in many parts, mountainous, some of 
which are two and three thousand feet above 
the level of the ocean. The parallel Western 
States have no mountains, and are not propor- 
tionably hilly. 

2. The Atlantic States border on the 
ocean, on the east, and feel the influence of 
the cold, damp winds, from the north-east and 
east. Their rains are more copious, and 
their snows deeper. The northern portions 
of the West, equally with New York and 
Vermont, are affected with the influence of 
the lakes, though not to the same extent. 

3. " The courses of rivers, by changing, in 
some degree, the direction of the winds, ex- 
ert an influence on the climate. In the At- 
lantic States, from New England to North 
Carolina, the rivers run more or less to the 
south-east, and increase the winds which blow 
from the north-west, while the great bed of 
the Mississippi exerts an equal influence in 
augmenting the number and steadiness of the 
winds which blow over it from the south-west; 
and there is another cause of difference in 
climate, chiefly perceptible, first, in the tem- 
perature, which, if no counteracting cause 



64 peck's guide. 

existed, they would raise in the West, consid- 
erably above that of corresponding latitudes 
in the East; and, secondly, in the moisture of 
the two regions, which is generally greater 
west than east of the mountains, when the 
south-west wind prevails; as much of the wa- 
ter, with which it comes charged from the 
gulf of Mexico, is deposited, before it reaches 
the country east of the Alleghanies."* 

It is an error, that our climate is more va- 
riable, or the summers materially hotter, than 
in a corresponding latitude in the Atlantic 
States. "The New Englander and New 
Yorker, north of the mountains of West 
Point, should bear in mind, that his migra- 
tion is not to the west, but south-ivest; and as 
necessarily brings him into a warmer climate, 
as when he seeks the shores of the Delaware, 
Potomac, or James river." 

The settlers from Virginia to Kentucky, or 
those from Maryland and Pennsylvania to 
Ohio, or farther west, have never complained 
of hotter summers than they had found in the 
land from whence they came. 

To institute a comparative estimate of tem- 
perature, between the East and the West, we 
must observe, — first, the thermometer; and, 
secondly, the flowering of trees, the putting 
forth of vegetation, and the ripening of fruits 
and grain, in correspondent latitudes. This 
has not usually been done. Philadelphia and 

* Dr. Drake. 



CLIMATE. €5 

Cincinnati approach nearer to the same par- 
allel, than any other places where such ob- 
servations have been made. Cincinnati, how- 
ever, is about 50' south of Philadelphia. The 
following remarks are from Dr. Daniel Drake, 
of Cincinnati, to whose pen the West is much 
indebted: 

"From a series of daily observations in 
Cincinnati, or its vicinity, for eight consecu- 
tive years, the mean annual temperature has 
been ascertained to be 54 degrees and a quar- 
ter. Dr. Rush states the mean temperature 
of Philadelphia at 52 degrees and a half; Dr. 
Coxe, from six years' observations, at 54 de- 
grees and a sixth ; and I Ir. Legaux, from sev- 
enteen years' observations, at Spring Mill, a 
few miles out of the city, at 53 degrees and a 
third; the mean term of which results, 53 de- 
grees and a third, is but the fraction of a de- 
gree lower than the mean heat of Cincinnati, 
and actually less than should be afforded by 
the difference of latitude. 

*' A reference to the temperatures of sum- 
mer and winter, will give nearly the same re- 
sults. From nine years' observations (three 
at Spring Mill, by Mr. Legaux, and six in 
Philadelphia, by Dr. Coxe), the mean sum- 
mer heat of that part of Pennsylvania appears 
to be 76 degrees and six tenths. The mean 
summer heat at Cincinnati, for an equal num- 
ber of years, was 74 degrees and four tenths. 
The average number of days in which the 
thermometer rose to 90 degrees or upwards, 
4 



66 peck's guide, 

during the same period, was fourteen each 
summer; and the greatest elevation observed, 
was 98 degrees; all of which would bear an 
almost exact comparison with similar obser- 
vations in Pennsylvania. Mr, Legaux states 
the most intense cold, at Spring Mill, from 
1787 to 1806, to have been 17 degrees and 
five tenths below cipher; while, within the 
same period, it was 18 degrees at Cincinnati, 
The average of extreme cold, for several 
years, as observed by Mr. Legaux, was one 
degree and eight tenths below cipher: the 
same average at Cincinnati, was two degrees 
below. From all which, we may conclude 
that the banks of the Delaware and Ohio, in 
the same latitudes, have nearly the same 
temperature." 

The State of Illinois, extending, as it does, 
through five and a half degrees of latitude, 
has considerable variation in its climate. It 
has no mountains, and, though undulating, it 
cannot be called hilly. Its extensive prairies 
and level surface, give greater scope to the 
winds, especially in winter. In the southern 
part of the State, during the three winter 
months, snow frequently falls, but seldom lies 
long. In the northern part, the winters are 
as cold, but not so much snow falls, as in the 
same latitudes in the Atlantic States. 

The Mississippi, at St. Louis, is frequently 
frozen over, and is crossed on the ice, and, 
occasionally, for several weeks. The hot 
season is longer, though not more intense, 



CLIMATE. 67 

than occasionally, for a day or two, in New 
England. 

During the years 1817, '18, '19, the Rev. 
Mr. Giddings, at St. Louis, made a series of 
observations upon Fahrenheit's thermometer: 

Deg. Hund. 

Mean temperature for 1817, 55 52 

Mean temperature from the beginning of 

May, 1818, to the end of April, 1819,. . 56 98 

Mean temperature for 1820, 50 18 

The mean of these results is about fifty-six 
degrees and a quarter. 

The mean temperature of each month, du- 
ring the above years, is as follows: 

Deg. Hund. 

January, 30 62 

February, 38 65 

March, 43 13 

April, , 58 47 

May, 62 66 

June, 74 47 

July, 78 66 

August, 72 88 

September, , 70 10 

October, . . , , 59 00 

November, 53 13 

December, 34 33 

The mean temperature of the different sea- 
sons is as follows: 

Dog. Hund. 

Winter, 34 53 

Spring, 54 74 

Summer, 74 34 

Autumn, 60 77 



68 peck's guide. 

The greatest extremes of heat and cold du- 
ring my residence of eighteen years, in the 
vicinity of St. Louis, is as follows: 

Greatest heat in July, 18^0, and July, 1833, 
100 degrees. Greatest cold, Jan. 3d, 1834, 
18 degrees below zero; Feb. 8th, 1835, 22 
degrees below zero. 

The foregoing facts will doubtless apply to 
about one half of Illinois. This climate, also, 
is subject to sudden changes, from heat to 
cold, from wet to dry, especially from Novem- 
ber to May. The heat of the summer, below 
the fortieth degree of latitude, is more ener- 
vating, and the system becomes more easily 
debilitated, than in the bracing atmosphere of 
a more northerly region. 

At Marietta, Ohio, in latitude 39° 25' north, 
and at the junction of the Muskingum river 
with the Ohio, the mean temperature, for 

1834, was 52 degrees and four tenths; high- 
est, in August, 95 degrees; lowest, January, 
at zero. Fair days, 225; cloudy days, 110. 

At Nashville, Tenn., 1834, the mean tem- 
perature was 59 degrees and seventy-six hun- 
dredths; maximum 97, minimum four above 
zero. The summer temperature of this place 
never reaches 100 degrees. January 26th, 
1832, 18 degrees below zero; February 8th, 

1835, 10 degrees below zero. 

The putting forth of vegetation in the spring, 
furnishes some evidence of the character of 
the climate of any country, though by no 



CLIMATE. 69 

means entirely accurate. Other causes com- 
bine to advance or retard vegetation. A wet 
or dry season, or a kw days of heat or cold, 
at a particular crisis, will produce material 
changes. 

The following table is constructed from 
memoranda, made at the various dates given, 
near the latitude of St. Louis, which is com- 
puted at 38° 30'. The observations of 1819, 
were made at St. Charles, and vicinity, in 
the State of Missouri. Those of 1820, in St. 
Louis county, 17 miles north-west from the 
city of St. Louis. The remainder, at Rock 
Spring, Illinois, 18 miles east from St. Louis. 
It will be perceived, the years are not con- 
secutive. In 1826, the writer was absent to 
the Eastern States, and, for 1828, his notes 
were too imperfect to answer the purpose. 

In the column showing the times of the first 
snows, and the first and last frosts in the sea- 
son, a little explanation may be necessary. 
A "light" snow means merely enough to 
whiten the earth, and which usually disap- 
pears in a few hours. 

Many of the frosts recorded "light," were 
not severe enough to kill ordinary vege- 
tation. 



70 



PECK S GUIDE. 



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CLIMATE. 71 

These observations, upon a comparison 
with the same parallels of latitude in the 
Eastern States, show that there is no material 
difference of climate between the two sections 
of our country, except that produced by local 
causes, as mountainous districts, contiguity 
to the ocean, &.c. 

A similar error has existed in relation to 
sudden and extreme changes of weather in 
the West. People who emigrate to a new 
country, have their curiosity awakened, and, 
perhaps, for the first time in their lives, 
become quite observing of such changes. 
From habitually observing the weather, the 
impression is produced on their minds that 
there is a marked difference in this climate. 
Dr. Rush declares that there is but one steady 
trait in the character of the climate of Penn- 
sylvania, and that is, it is uniformly variable; 
and he asserts that he has known the ther- 
mometer to fall 20 degrees in one hour and a 
half. March 26-27, 1818, the thermometer, 
in St. Louis, fell 41 degrees in thirty hours, — 
from 83 degrees to 42 degrees. I have no 
record or recollection of a more sudden 
change, in eighteen years. Mr. Legaux saw 
it fall, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 47 de- 
grees in twenty-four hours; and Dr. Drake 
states that this is five degrees more than any 
impression ever observed in Cincinnati, in the 
same length of time. Emigrants from New 
England and the northern part of New York 



72 



PECK S GUIDE. 



State must not expect to find the same climate 
ill the West, at 38 or 40 degrees; but let 
them remove to the same parallel of latitude 
in the West, to Wisconsin, or the northern 
part of Illinois, and they will probably find a 
climate far more uniform than the land of 
their birth. 

Prevailing v.inds modifv and affect the cli- 
mate of every country. South-westwardly 
winds prevail along the Mississippi Valley. 
The following tabular view of observations 
made at Cincinnati, by Dr. D. Drake, for six 
succeeding years, with so few omissions, that 
they amount to 4200, will give further illus- 
trations of this subject. They have been 
brought from eight points of the compass: 

Obsei'vations. 



Months. 


S. X.., S. 


b. M . 


N. E. 


N. 


K. W. 


E. 


w. 


CALM. 


January, .... 


6 2 


13 


8 


1 


21 


3 


6 


6 


February, .... 


5 1 1 


13 


8 


1 


14 





5 


8 


March, 


10 1 1 


16 


11 


1 


10 





5 


4 


April, 


^|1 


24 


10 


1 


8 




3 


5 


May, 


7' 1 


19 


10 





10 


1 


4 


6 


June, 


9 1 


23 


12 


5 


7 


1 


2 


3 


Julv, 


6i 1 


19 


11 


2 


11 




4 


4 


Au£USt, 


(5 1 


23 


10 


1 


12 




1 


6 


September, . . . 


6 1 


23 


9 





8 


2 


3 


3 


October, 


9 1 


24 


6 


1 


10 


2 


4 


3 


November, . . . 


9 3 


13 


6 


1 


10 


2 


7 


5 


December, . . . 


7 1 


11 


5 





15 


2 


6 


9 


Total, 


87 14 


223 


106 


14 


136 


16 


50 


62 



CLIMATE. 73 

The results of my own observations, made 
for twelve years, with the exception of 1826, 
and with some irregularity, from traveling in 
different parts of Missouri and Illinois, during 
the time, do not vary in any material degree 
from the above table, excepting fewer east 
and north-east winds. 

Dr. Drake has given a table, setting forth 
the results of 4268 observations on the state 
of the weather at Cincinnati, from which it 
will be perceived that of the 365 days in a 
year, about 176 will be fair, 105 cloudy, and 
34 variable. 

Dr. L. C. Beck made similar observations 
at St. Louis, during the year 1820, which 
produced the result of 245 clear days, and 
cloudy, including variable days, 110, 



Year?. 


Clear days. 


Cloudy days. 


Vari.ible days. 


1. . 


180 


107 


68 


2. . 


158 


112 


91 


3. . 


187 


78 


85 


4. . 


152 ' 


106 


107 


5. . 


185 


111 


68 


6, . 


172 


112 


74 


Total, 6 


1034 


626 


493 


can terms, 


172. 33 


104. 33 


82.16 



The following table shows the condition of 
the weather, in each month of a mean year, 
for the above period: 



74 peck's guide. 

Months. Clear days. Cloudy days. Variable days, 

Jaj^uary, 9. 8 13. 1 7. 8 

February,. . . .10. 3 12. 6. 5 

March, 13. 5 9. 1 8. 3 

April, 13. 1 10. 8 7. 6 

May, 15. 8. 5 7. 5 

June, 15. 5 5. 9. 6 

July, 19. 5. 5 6. 

August, 19. 6 4. 6 6. 5 

September, . . .19. 5 5. 3 6. 1 

October, 16. 1 6. 8. 1 

November, ... 9. 5 13. 5 5. 5 

December, ... 9. 6 14. 1 5. 8 



There would be some variations from the 
foregoing table, in a series of observations in 
the country bordering upon the Upper Mis- 
sissippi and Missouri. The weather in the 
States of Ohio and Kentucky, is, doubtless, 
more or less affected in autumn, by the rains 
that fall on the Alleghany mountains, and the 
rise of the Ohio and its tributaries. So the 
weather in the months of April, May and 
June, in Missouri, is affected by the spring 
floods of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. 

The following table is constructed from a 
series of observations made at the military 
posts in the West, by the surgeons of the 
United States army, for four years, — 1822, 
1823, 1824 and 1825. (See American Alma- 
nac for 1834, p. 81.) 



CLIMATE. 



75 



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' 



76 peck's guide. 

Diseases, means of 'preserving Health, S^c. 
Of the Lower Valley, I shall say but very 
little. Dr. Drake observes: "The diseases 
of this portion of the great Valley are few, 
and prevail chiefly in summer and autumn. 
They are the offspring of the combined ac- 
tion of intense heat and marsh exhalation." 
They are, generally, remittent and inter- 
mittent bilious fevers. Emigrants most gen- 
erally undergo a seasoning, or become accli- 
mated. Many persons, however, from the 
Northern and Middle States and from Europe, 
enjoy health. In sickly situations, these fe- 
vers are apt to return, and often prove fatal. 
They frequently enfeeble the constitution, 
and produce chronic inflammation of the 
liver, enlargement of the spleen, or terminate 
in jaundice or dropsy, and disorder the diges- 
tive organs. When persons find themselves 
subject to repeated attacks, the only safe 
resource is an annual migration to a more 
northern climate, during the summer. Many 
families from New Orleans, and other ex- 
posed situations, retire to the pine barrens 
of Louisiana, in the hot and sickly season, 
where limpid streams, flowing over a pebbly 
bed, and a terebinthine atmosphere, are en- 
joyed. Eight months of the year are pleasant 
and healthy in the Lower Mississippi Valley. 

The advice of Dr. Drake is, that "Those 
who migrate from a colder climate to the 
southern Mississippi States, should observe 
the following directions: 1st. To arrive there 



DISEASES. 77 

in autumn, instead of spring or summer. 2d. 
If practicable, to spend the hottest part of the 
first two or three years in a higher latitude. 
3d. To select the healthiest situations. 4th. 
To live temperately. 5th. To preserve a reg- 
ular habit. Lastly, to avoid the heat of the 
sun, from ten in the morning till four in the 
afternoon; and, above all, the night air. By 
a strict attention to these rules, many would 
escape the diseases of the climate, who an- 
nually sink under its baleful influence." 

Those States and Territories to which this 
work is intended more immediately as a 
Guide, do not differ very materially in salu- 
brity. The same general features are found 
in each. There is but little diversity in cli- 
mate ; their geological and physical structure 
coincide, and the experience of many years 
shows that there is no great diflerence. Where 
autumnal fevers are common, they are usually 
of similar character. The same causes for dis- 
ease, exist in Ohio as in Missouri; in Michigan 
as in Illinois; in Kentucky and Tennessee as 
in Indiana. All these States are much more 
infested with the maladies which depend on 
variations of temperature, than the States 
farther south. All have localities where in- 
termittents and agues are found, and all 
possess extensive districts of country where 
health is enjoyed by a very large proportion 
of emigrants. There is some difference be- 
tween a heavily timbered and a prairie coun- 
try, in favor of the latter, other circumstances 



78 peck's guide. 

being equal. Changes, favorable to continu- 
ed health, are produced by the settlement 
and cultivation of any particular portion of 
country. Of one fact, I have long since sat- 
isfied my mind, — that ordinary fevers are not 
caused by the use of the water of the West. 

Exceptions may be made in some few cases, 
where a vein of water is impregnated with 
some deleterious mineral substance. The 
use of a well, dug in the vicinity of a coal-bed 
in Illinois, was supposed to have caused sick- 
ness in a family, for two seasons. Any offen- 
sive property in water is readily detected by 
the taste. Cool, refreshing water is a great 
preservative of health. It is common for 
families, who aro too indifferent to their com- 
fort to dig a well, to use the tepid, muddy 
water of the small streams, in the frontier 
States, during the summer, or to dig a shallow 
well, and wall it with timber, which soon im- 
parts an offensive taste to the water. Water 
of excellent quality, may be found in springs, 
or by digging from twenty to thirty feet, 
throughout the Western States. Most of the 
water, thus obtained, is hard water, from its 
limestone qualities, but it is most unquestion- 
ably healthy. Those persons who emigrate 
from a region of sandstone, or primitive rock, 
where water is soft, will find our limestone 
water to produce a slight affection of the 
bowels, which will prove more advantageous 
to health, than otherwise, and which will last, 
but a few weeks. Whenever disease prevails 



DISEASES. 79 

in the Western States, it may, generally, be 
attributed to one or more of the following 
causes: 

1. Variations of temperature. This cause, 
we have already shown, exists to as great 
extent in the same latitude east of the moun- 
tains. 

2. The rapid decomposition of vegetable 
matter. In all our rich lands, there are vast 
quantities of vegetable matter mixed with the 
soil, or spread over the surface. Extreme 
hot weather, following especially a season of 
much rain, before the middle of July, will 
produce sickness. If the early part of sum- 
mer be tolerably dry, although a hot season 
follows, sickness does not generally prevail. 
The year 1820 was an exception to this rule. 
It was a very dry, hot, sickly year through 
the West, indeed, throughout the world. A 
wet season, with a moderately cool atmos- 
phere, has proved healthy. 

3. Marsh exhalations. These, combined 
with heat, will always generate fevers. In- 
deed, there is probably very little difference 
in the miasm thrown off* from decomposed 
vegetable matter, and that produced from 
sluggish streams, standing waters and marsh- 
es. These, in the great Valley, abound with 
decayed vegetable matter. Hence, along the 
streams which have alluvial bottoms (as lov/ 
lands, upon streams, are called in the West), 
some of which are annually overflowed, and 
where the timber and luxuriant vegetable 



80 peck's guide. 

growth are but partially subdued, the inhabi- 
tants are liable to fevers, dysenteries and 
agues. Situations directly under the bluffs, 
adjacent to the bottom lands, that lie upon 
our large rivers, especially when the vege- 
tation is unsubdued, have proved unhealthy. 
So have situations at the heads or in the slope 
of the ravines that put dov/n from the bluffs 
towards the rivers. 

The principal diseases that prevail, may be 
stated as follows: In the winter, and early in 
the spring, severe colds, inflammation of the 
lungs and pleurisies are most common. The 
genuine hereditary consumption of New Eng- 
land is rare, and families and individuals pre- 
disposed to that disease, might often be pre- 
served, by migration to this Valley. Acute 
inflammation of the brain, and inflammatory 
rheumatism are not unusual at that season. 

During the summer and autumn, cholera 
infantum with children in large towns, diar- 
rhoea, cholera morbus, dysentery, intermittent 
and remittent bilious fevers pie vail. The in- 
termittent assumes various forms, and has 
acquired several names amongst the country 
people, where it prevails more generally than 
in large towns. It is called the "chill and 
fever," — "ague," — "dumb ague," Slc, ac- 
cording to its form of attack. 

The remittent fever is the most formidable 
of our autumnal diseases, especially when of 
a highly bilious type. In most seasons, these 
diseases are easily managed, and yield to a 



DISEASES. 81 

dose or two of medicine. Sore eyes, espe- 
cially in autumn, is a common complaint in 
the frontier settlements, and when neglected 
or improperly managed, have terminated in 
total blindness. 

The "milk sickness," as it is called, occa- 
sionally prevails in some localities, some par- 
ticulars of which will he found in another place. 
There is a disease that afflicts many frontier 
people, called by some "sick stomach," by 
others, "water brash," from its symptoms of 
sudden nausea, with vomiting, especially after 
meals. 

In 1832, the cholera made its appearance 
in the West. In m.any places, its first ap- 
proach was attended with great mortality, but 
its second visit to a place has been in a milder 
and more manageable form. It has visited 
various parts of the West, on each returning 
season since, especially along the great rivers 
and about the steam-boats.* It appears to 
have changed somewhat the characteristics of 
our western diseases, and will probably be- 
come a modified and manageable disease. 
Since its visit, our fevers are more conges- 
tive, less bile is secreted, and the stomach 
more affected. The subject will doubtless be 
noticed by our physicians, and observations 
made, how far this new disease will become 
assimilated to the ordinary diseases of the 
country. 

* Not a case of cholera has occurred this season, — Aug, 
12, 1836. 

4# 



8!2 peck's guide. 

We are satisfied, after a long course of 
observations, much traveling, and conversing 
with many hundreds of families, with the view 
of arriving at correct conclusions on these 
subjects, tliat there is no such operation as that 
of emigrants undergoing a seasoning, or be- 
coming acclimated, in the States of Ohio, In- 
diana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Michigan, or the Wisconsin Territory. 
JYor does it make the least difference from what 
part of the United States or Europe, they come, 
nor whether they arrive here in the spring or au- 
tumn. There is an erroneous notion prevailing 
in some of the Atlantic States, on this sub- 
ject, that should be corrected. When sick- 
ness prevails, there is just as much, and it is 
equally severe, amongst the old settlers, those 
born in the country, or who migrate from the 
Carolinas or Georgia, as those who come from 
the Northern States. Families are just as 
liable to sickness, and are as often attacked 
for the first time, after residing several years 
in the country, as at any other time. A large 
proportion of the families and individuals, who 
remove from New England, to the various 
parts of the Valley, north of the 37th degree 
of latitude, have no sickness the first year. 

The impression has formerly existed abroad, 
that Illinois is less healthy than other Western 
States. This is entirely erroneous. As in all 
countries, there are some localities, where the 
causes that produce sickness exist more than 
in others. This is not the fact with Illinois in 
general. 



DISEASES. 83 

That this State is as healthy as any other 
Western State, can be abundantly supported 
by facts. Let a candid observer compare the 
health of the early settlers of New England, 
with that of the early settlers of the West, 
and he will find the scale to preponderate in 
favor of the latter. Unless there is some 
strange fatality attending Illinois, its popula- 
tion must be more healthy than the early set- 
tlers of a timbered region. But in no period of 
its history have sickness and death triumphed, 
in any respect, equal to what they did two or 
three years since, in the lake country of New 
York. 

The year 1811, is recorded in the memoirs 
of the early settlers, as a season of unusual 
sickness, near the banks of the Mississippi 
and Missouri rivers. The latter rose to an 
unusual height, in June; the waters of the 
small creeks were backed up, and a large 
surface of luxuriant vegetation vvas covered 
and deadened. This was succeeded by hot 
and dry weather. Bilious and intermittent 
fevers prevailed extensively. The seasons of 
1819, '20, and '21, were unusually sickly in 
Illinois and Missouri. Emigrants, in shoals, 
had spread over a wide range of country, 
within a year or two preceding. Multitudes 
were placed under circumstances (iie most 
unfavorable to the preservation of health, in 
new and open cabins of green timber, often 
using the stagnant water of creeks and penis, 
with a luxuriant vegetation around them un- 



84 peck's guide. 

(Jergoing decomposition, and all the other evils 
attendant on the settlement of a new and un- 
broken country. Under such circumstances, 
can it be surprising that many were sick, and 
that many died? The summer of 1820 was 
the hottest and driest ever known in this 
country. For weeks, in succession, the ther- 
mometer, in the shade, at St. Louis, was up 
to 96 degrees for hours in the day. Not a 
cloud came over the sun, to afford a partial 
relief from its burning influence. The fevers 
of that season were unusually rapid, malignant 
and umanageable. Almost every mark of the 
yell )w fever, as laid down in the books, was 
exhibited in many cases, both in town and 
country. The bilious fever put on its most 
malignant type. Black, foetid matter was dis- 
'wharged from the stomach and by stools. The 
writer and all his family suffered severely that 
season. He lived seventeen miles from St. 
Louis, on the road to St. Charles, in Missouri, 
iva a farm; the settlement had been called 
healthy. The Missouri bottom was one mile 
distant. Three miles west-south-west, v.'as the 
Creve-coBur lake, a body of water several miles 
ia length and half a mile in width, connected by 
an outlet, with the Missouri river. The wa- 
ter of this lake was entirely stagnant, covered 
with a thick scum, and sent forth a noisome 
srnsll: fish in it died. My oldest son, a robust 
youth, ten years of age, and my brother-in- 
law, a hale and stout young man, sickened 
and died the tirst week in October. I was 



DISEASES. 85 

attacked the fifth of July, and came as near 
dying as a person could and recover. All my 
children were sick. While convalescent, in 
September, I took a long journey to Cape 
Girardeau country, one hundred and twenty 
miles south, and back through the lead-mine 
country, to the Missouri river, sixty miles 
west of St. Louis, and in all the route found 
that sickness had prevailed to the same extent. 
At Vincennes, and other parts of Indiana, 
disease triumphed. The country around Vin- 
cennes, on the east side of the Wabash, is a 
sandy plain. A gentleman who escaped the 
ravages of fever in that place, and who was 
much engaged in nursing the sick and con- 
soling the dying, stated to me that nothing 
was so disheartening as the cloudless sky and 
burning sun, that continued unchanged, for 
weeks in succession. Mortality prevailed to 
a great extent along the banks of the Wabash. 
Hindostan, a town on the east fork of White 
river, thirty-eight miles from Vincennes, on 
the road to Louisville, was begun the pre- 
ceding year. Seventy or eighty families had 
crowded in, at the commencement of the year 
1820. The heavy timber of poplar (white- 
wood), oak and beech, had been cut down, the 
brush burned, and the logs left on the ground. 
By June, the bark was loosened, an intolera- 
ble stench proceeded from the timber; sick- 
ness followed, and about two thirds of the 
population died. And yet, to look about the 
place, there is no local cause that would in- 



86 peck's guide. 

dicate sickness. In the summer of 1821 , sick- 
ness prevailed very extensively, but in a much 
milder form: its type was intermittent, and 
usually yielded to ordinary remedies. During 
that year, the number of deaths in St. Louis, 
was 136, — the population 5000. At least one 
third of that number were strangers and tran- 
sient persons, who either arrived sick, or 
were taken sick within two or three days after 
arrival. St. Louis had then no police regula- 
tions, the streets were filthy in the extreme, 
and the population were crowded into every 
hole and corner. This was the most sickly 
and dying season St. Louis ever knew, except 
when the cholera prevailed, in October, 1832. 

The same years (1820-21) were noted for 
unusual sickness throughout the United States, 
and indeed the whole world. The bilious fe- 
ver prevailed in the hilly and mountainous 
districts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and 
even among the Green mountains of Vermont. 

Very little general sickness (except cholera, 
in 1832-33) prevailed in 1830, '31, '32, or 
'33. In 1834, congestive fever, and dysen- 
tery, with some of the symptoms of cholera, 
existed in many places in the West, though 
not extensively fatal. In the month of June, 
were frequent sudden showers in Illinois and 
Missouri, with intervals of extreme heat; July 
and August very hot and dry. The disease 
began early in July, and continued till Sep- 
tember. 

The year 1835, was the most sickly year. 



DISEASES. 87 

for common intermittents, which prev ailed more 
amongst the old settlers, than the newly arrived 
emigranis. In Illinois, and generally through- 
out the West, below the 40th degree of lati- 
tude, it was sickly, though not fatal. Early 
in the spring, till the month of May, it was 
unusually dry, and vegetation was two weeks 
later than usual. May, and a part of June, 
were very wet, followed by a few days of ex- 
tremely hot weather. Vegetation grew with 
great luxuriance. Newly ploughed ground 
sent forth a noxious effluvium, with a most 
offensive odor, and after a few days would be 
covered with a greenish coat, like the scum 
on stagnant water. Town situations, even 
along the banks of rivers, were comparatively 
healthy. 

In case of sickness, physicians are to be 
found in almost every county, and every 
season adds to their number. Charges are 
somewhat higher than in the Northern States. 
Many families keep a few simple articles of 
medicine, and administer for themselves. 
Calomel is a specific, and is taken by multi- 
tudes, without hesitation or fear of danger. 
From fifteen to twenty grains are an ordinary 
dose for a cathartic. Whenever nausea of 
the stomach, pains in the limbs, and yawning, 
or a chill, indicate the approach of disease, a 
dose of calomel is taken at night in a little apple, 
honey, or other suitable substance, and fol- 
lowed up in the morning with a dose of castor 
oil, or salts, to produce a brisk purge. Some- 



88 peck's guide. 

times an emetic is preferred: either a cathar- 
tic or an emetic will leave the system under 
some debility. The mistake frequently made 
is, in not following up the evacuating medi- 
cine with tonics. This should be done, in- 
variably, unless the paroxysm of fever has 
commenced. A few doses of sulphate of 
quinine, or Peruvian bark in its crude state, 
will restore the system to its natural tone. To 
prevent an attack of fever, medicine should 
be taken on the very first symptoms of a dis- 
eased stomach; it should not be tampered 
with, but taken in sufficient doses to relieve 
the system from morbid effects, and then fol- 
lowed up by tonics, to restore its vigor and 
prevent relapse. 

New comers will find it advantageous for 
protecting themselves from the damp atmos- 
phere at night, to provide close dwellings; 
yet when the air is clear, to leave open doors 
and windows at night for free circulation, but 
not to sleep directly in the current of air; 
and invariably to wear thin clothing in the 
heat of the day, and put on thicker garments 
at night, and in wet and cloudy weather. 

I have observed that those families are sel- 
dom sick who live in comfortable houses, with 
tight floors, and well ventilated rooms, and 
who, upon change of weather, and especially 
in time of rains, make a little fire in the chim- 
ney, although the thermometer might not in- 
dicate the necessity. 

In fine, I am prepared to give my opinion, 



DISEASES. 89 

decidedly, in favor of the general health of 
this country and climate. I would not cer- 
tainly be answerable for all the bad locations, 
the imprudences and whims of all classes of 
emigrants, wliich may operate unfavorably to 
health. I only speak for myself and family. 
I decidedly prefer this climate, with all its 
miasm, to New England, with its north-east 
winds, and damp, 'raw,' and pulmonary at- 
mosphere. We very seldom have fogs in Il- 
linois and Missouri. My memoranda, kept 
with considerable accuracy, for twelve years, 
give not more than half a dozen foggy morn- 
ings in a year. 

The following comparisons between St. 
Louis and several eastern cities, will afford 
some evidence of the opinions expressed 
above. I have remarked, already, that 1821 
was more sickly in St. Louis than any pre- 
ceding year, and deaths were more numerous 
in proportion to the population. Some cases 
of fever were more malignant in 1820, in that 
place, but deaths were more frequent the fol- 
lowing season. I solemnized the marriage of 
a young lady of my acquaintance, who was 
under the age of fourteen years. In eight 
days she was a widow. At the funeral of a 
gentleman, the same season, who left a widow 
under twenty years, there were present thir- 
teen widows, all under twenty-four years of 
age, and all had lost their companions that 
season. Young men were victims more than 
any other age or condition. And yet I am 
5 



90 peck's guide, 

prepared to show, that St. Louis, that sum- 
mer, was not more sickly than several eastern 
cities were in 1820 and 1823. 

The population of St. Louis, in 1821, varied 
but little from 5000: the number of deaths 
during that year was 136. This account was 
taken by the Rev. Salmon Giddings, who was 
particular in collecting the facts. The pro- 
portion of the deaths to the population, was 
one to thirty-five. 

In 1820, Boston contained a population ol 
43,893; number of deaths 1103; proportion 
of one to thirty-nine and three fourths. 

New York. Population 123,000; deaths 
3515; proportion of one to a fraction less than 
thirty-five. 

Philadelphia. Population 108,000; deaths 
3374; proportion of one to thirty-two. 

Baltimore. Population 62,000; deaths 1625; 
proportion of one to thirty-eight. 

The aggregate population of these four 
cities, in 1820, was 336,893; the aggregate 
number of deaths, 9617; proportion of one to 
thirty-five, the same as that of St. Louis. 

In 1823, Boston contained a population es- 
timated at 45,000; number of deaths, by of- 
ficial returns, 1154; proportion of one to thir- 
ty-nine. 

New York. Population about 130,000; 
deaths 3444; proportion of one to thirty-seven 
and two thirds. 

Philadelphia. Population about 120,000; 



DISEASES. 



deaths 4600; proportion of one to twenty-six. 
[This was an uncommonly sickly season in 
Philadelphia.] 

Baltimore. Population estimated at 65,000; 
deaths 2108; proportion of one to thirty and 
two thirds. 

I have thus selected the mortality of St. 
Louis during the most sickly season since my 
residence in this country, and compared it 
with the hills of mortality of four eastern cities 
for two years (those of 1820 and 1823), and 
the result is favorable to the health of St. 
Louis, and, by consequence, to the adjoining 
States. For ten years past, there has been 
no general sickness in St. Louis, during the 
summer and autumnal months, excepting the 
cholera, in 1832. 

Some parts of Indiana and Ohio are unques- 
tionably more subject to bilious attacks than 
Illinois. The reason is obvious. Much of 
that region is heavily timbered; and, upon 
cutting it away in spots, and letting in the 
rays of the sun upon vegetable matter under- 
going decomposition, miasmata are generated. 
These regions will become comparatively 
healthy, when put under general cultivation. 

The story is told, that the late emperor of 
France lay encamped with one of his armies 
near a place reputed unhealthy, when one of 
his officers requested a furlough. The reason 
being asked, and given, — that the place was 
unhealthy, and the applicant feared to die an 
inglorious death, from fever: — Napoleon re- 



92 peck's guide. 

plied, in his accustomed laconic style, "Go to 
your post; men die every where," 

If a family emigrate to a new and distant 
country, and any of the number sicken and 
die, we are apt to indulge in unavailing regret 
at the removal; whereas, had the same afflic- 
tive event happened before removal, it would 
have been regarded in quite a different light. 
Let, then, none come to the West, who do not 
expect to be sick and to die, whenever divine 
Providence shall see fit so to order events. 

The milk sickness is a disease of a singular 
character, which prevails in certain places. It 
first affects animals, especially cows, and from 
them is communicated to the human system by 
eating the milk, or flesh. The symptoms of 
the disease indicate poison; and the patient 
is affected nearly in the same way, as when 
poisonous ingredients have been received into 
the system. Cattle, when attacked by it, usu- 
ally die. In many instances it proves mortal 
in the human system; in others, it yields to the 
skill of the physician. Much speculation has 
been had upon its cause, which is still un- 
known. The prevailing idea is, that it is 
caused by some poisonous substance eaten by 
the cattle, but whether vegetable or mineral, 
remainsun determined. Physicians and others 
have attempted to ascertain the cause of this 
disease, but hitherto without success. 

It infests only particular spots, or small dis- 
tricts, and these are soon found out. There 
are places in Ohio, Indiana, and the southern 



DISEASES. 93 

States, where it exists. Its effects are more 
frequent in autumn than any other season; 
and to guard against it, the people either keep 
their cows in a pasture, or refuse to use their 
milk. Some have supposed this disease to be 
produced by the cattle feeding on the cicuta 
virosa, or water hemlock; as a similar disease 
once infested the cattle in the north of Europe, 
the cause of which was traced out by the great 
naturalist Linnseus; but it is not known that 
this species of plant exists amongst the botani- 
cal productions of Missouri and Illinois. 

Anxious to furnish all the information, on 
this very important subject, to persons de- 
sirous of emigrating to the West, I will pro- 
long this chapter by inserting the following 

"Advice to Emigrants, recent Settler's, and to 
those visiting the southern Country. 

''The outlines which have already been 
given, will afford some information to emi- 
grants from other sections of the Union, or 
from Europe. We will now offer a few cau- 
tionary remarks, particularly intended for 
such as are about to settle, or have recently 
settled in this section of the United States. 

"Of new comers, there are two tolerably 
distinct classes: the one comprising farmers, 
mechanics, and indeed all those who calculate 
on obtaining a subsistence by manual indus- 
try; the other is composed of professional 
men, tradesmen, and adventurers of every 
description. Towards the first class our 



94 peck's guide. 

attention is now directed, premising that 
throughout a great portion of the western 
country, except in large towns, nearly every 
mechanic is almost necessarily a farmer; the 
population being in but few places sufficiently 
dense to support that designation of mechani- 
cal employments which is common in the East- 
ern and Middle States. 

*' For the industrious and temperate of this 
class, our country holds forth inducements, 
which are not generally known or understood. 

"The language of indiscriminate panegyric, 
which has been bestowed on its climate and 
soil, has conveyed little information, and is 
the source of many fears and suspicions in the 
minds of people at a distance. Other accounts 
have described the western country as uni- 
formly sickly; but the habit of exaggeration 
in its favor, has been most prevalent; neither 
need we wonder, when much of the informa- 
tion communicated, has been afforded by in- 
terested landholders, or speculators, and by 
travelers, whose views have been superficial, 
and whose journeys have been performed gen- 
erally, either on the rivers, or by post roads. 

'•The first inquiry of a substantial farmer, 
from one of the old settled States is, mostly, 
for good land, in the vicinity of a market ; and, 
afterwards, whether the situation be healthy. 
It is true that there are many places in the 
western country, affording the qualities ex- 
pressed in this description, but they are per- 
haps all occupied; and it would be, in several 



DISEASES. 95 

respects, more advisable for a farmer, pos- 
sessing even a considerable sum of money in 
hand, to inquire first for a healthy situation, 
and then good land. 

"The spirit of improvement throughout the 
United States, especially evinced in canalling 
and rail-roads, will, it is hoped, in a i^ew years, 
open modes of communication, which, as yet, 
are wanting with the markets. 

" The same remarks will apply to the poorer 
class of emigrants. If they value their own 
health, and that of their families, the main ob- 
ject of their attention will be to secure, if pos- 
sible, a situation remote from the fogs that 
hover over the channels of large rivers, which 
become partly dry in summer, and from the 
neighborhood of swamps, marshes, ponds and 
small lakes. 

" Every person, on coming from beyond 
the mountains, and especially from the Eastern 
States, or Europe, will have to undergo some 
degree of change in his constitution, before 
it becomes naturalized to the climate; and 
all who move from a cold to a considerably 
warmer part of the western country will expe- 
rience the same alteration; it will, therefore, 
be wisdom for the individual brought up in a 
more rigorous climate, that he seek a situa- 
tion where the circulation of air is unimpeded 
and free, and that he avoid those flat and 
marshy districts, which have been already de- 
scribed. 

"Those who settle in new countries are 



96 peck's guide. 

almost universally exposed to inconveniences 
which have an unfavorable influence on health. 
They are seldom able, for a length of time, to 
erect comfortable places of residence ; and in- 
deed, many ])ostpone this important object of 
attention, even after their circumstances will 
permit them to build comfortable dwelling- 
houses. 

" Wool is mostly a scarce article in new 
settlements, so that cotton and linen garments 
are too frequently worn in winter. There is 
another circumstance, which no doubt has 
an unfavorable influence on health, especially 
among the poorer class: it is the want, during 
the summer season particularly, of substantial 
food. This is sometimes owing to indolence, 
or improvidence; but perhaps oftener to the 
circumstances in which a few families are 
placed, at a distance from any established or 
opulent settlement. 

"Erroneous views are too generally en- 
tertained in relation to hardening the human 
system; and the analogies drawn from savage 
life, are altogether inconclusive. The man- 
ners of the North American Indians are es- 
sentially different from those of the whites. 
It is true, there is a portion of the latter, 
especially in Illinois and Missouri, who from 
infancy are educated almost in the habits of 
the aborigines. 

" We have fi-equently heard the example 
of savages referred to, as an argument in fa- 
vor of attempting to strengthen the constitu- 



DISEASES. 97 

tion by exposure.* There is plausibility in 
this; but might not the example of the negroes 
in the lower parts of South Carolina and 

* Uniform exposure to the weather is favorable to health. 
I can affirm this from long experience and observation. Our 
hunters and surveyors, who uniformly spend their time for 
weeks in the woods and prairies, who wade in the water, 
swim creeks, are drenched in the rains and dews, and sleep 
in the open air or a camp at night, very rarely are attacked 
with fevers. I have known repeated instances of young 
men, brought up delicately in the eastern cities, accustomed, 
as clerks, to a sedentary life, with feeble constitutions, — I 
have known such, repeatedly, to enter upon the business of 
surveying the public lands, or in the hunting and trapping 
business, be absent for months, and return with robust health. 
It is a common thing for a frontier man, whose health is on 
the decline, and especially when indications of pulmonary 
affection appear, to engage in a hunting expedition to reno- 
vate his health. I state these facts, and leave it to the 
medical faculty to explain the whrj and uherefore. One cir- 
cumstance may deserve attention. All these men, as do 
the Indians, sleep u-ith their feet towards the fire at night. 
And it is a common notion with this class, that if the feet 
are kept hot through the night, however cold the atn)os- 
phere, or however much exposed the rest of the body, no 
evil consequences will ensue. I have passed many a night 
in this position, after fatiguing rides of thirty or forty miles 
in the day on our extreme frontiers, and through rains, and 
never experienced any inconvenience to health, if I could 
get a pallet on the cabin floor, and my feet to the fire. 

Those who are exposed to these hardships but occasion- 
ally, when compelled by necessity, and who endeavor to 
protect themselves at all other times, usually suffer after 
such exposure. 

I have observed that children, when left to run in the open 
air and weather, who go barefoot, and oftentimes with a 
single light garment around them, who sleep on the floor 
at night, are more healthy than those who are protected. 



98 peck's guide. 

Georgia, be also quoted as evidencing the 
propriety of living on corn-meal and sweet 
potatoes, and working every day in the water 
of a rice-field, during the sickly season ? 
They are, generally, more healthy than the 
whites who own them, and who reside on the 
plantations in the summer. The civilized man 
may turn to savage life perhaps with safety, as 
regards health; but then he must plunge with 
the Indian into the depths of the forest, and 
observe consistency in all his habits. These 
pages are not written, however, for such as 
are disposed to consider themselves beyond 
the pale of civilized society; but for the re- 
flecting part of the community, who can es- 
timate the advantages to be derived from a 
prudent care of health. 

"Much disease, especially in the more re- 
cently settled parts of this country, is conse- 
quent to neglecting simple and comfortable 
precautionary means: sometimes, this neglect 
is owing to misdirected industry, and at others 
to laziness, or evil habits. 

"To have a dry house, if it be a log one, 
with the openings between the logs well filled 
up, so that it may be kept warm in winter; to 
fill up all the holes in its vicinity which may 
contain stagnant water; to have a good clean 
spring or well, sufficient clothing, and a rea- 
sonable supply of provisions, should be the 
first object of a settler's attention. But fre- 
quently a little, wet, smoky cabin or hovel is 
erected, with the floor scarcely separated 



DISEASES. 99 

from the ground, and admitting the damp and 
unwholesome air: all hands, that can work, 
are impelled, by the father's example, to labor 
beyond their strength, and more land is clear- 
ed and planted with corn than is well tended; 
for over-exertion, change in the manner of 
living, and the influence of other debilitating 
causes, which have been mentioned, bring 
sickness on at least a part of the family, be- 
fore the summer is half over. 

"It is unnecessary for even the poorest 
emigrant to encounter these causes of dis- 
tress, unless seduced by the misrepresenta- 
tions of some interested landholder, or by the 
fantasies of his own brain, to an unhealthy 
and desolate situation, where he can neither 
help himself, nor be assisted by others. 

" Many persons, on moving into the back 
woods, who have been accustomed to the de- 
cencies of life, think it little matter how they 
live, because no one sees them. Thus we have 
known a family of some opulence to reside for 
years in a cabin unfit for the abode of any 
human being, because they could not find time 
to build a house! and whenever it rained hard, 
the females were necessarily engaged in roll- 
ing the beds from one corner of the room to 
another, in order to save them from the water 
that poured in through the roof. This cabin 
was intended at first as only a very temporary 
residence, and was erected on the edge of a 
swamp, for the convenience of being near a 
spring. How unreasonable must such people 
be, if they expect health! 



100 peck's guide. 

" Clothing for winter, should be prepared 
in summer. It is a common, but very incor- 
rect practice among many farmers, both west 
and east of the x\lleghany mountains, to post- 
pone wearing winter clothing until the weather 
has become extremely cold: this is a fruitful 
source of pulmonary diseases, of rheumatisms 
and of fevers. 

" With regard to providing a sufficiency of 
nourishing food, no specific directions can be 
given, further than to recommend, — what is 
much neglected, — particular attention to a 
good garden spot; and to remark, that those 
who devote undivided attention to cultivating 
the soil, receive more uniform supplies of 
suitable nourishment than the more indolent, 
who spend a considerable portion of their time 
in hunting. 

"New settlers are not unfrequently troubled 
with diseases of the skin, which are often sup- 
posed to be the itch: for these eruptions they 
generally use repellent external applications: 
this plan of treatment is prejudicial. 

" The most proper time ibr the removal of 
families to this country, from the Atlantic 
States, is early in the spring, while the rivers 
are full; or, if the journey be made by land, as 
soon as the roads are sufficiently settled, and 
the waters abated. 

"Persons unaccustomed to the climate of 
the Lower Mississippi country, are necessarily 
exposed, whilst there in the summer season, 
to many causes of disease. It will be advisa- 



DISEASES. 101 

ble for such to have a prudent care of their 
health, and yet a care distinct from that finical 
timidity, which renders them liable to early 
attacks of sickness. 

"There is one important consideration, 
which perhaps has been somewhat overlook- 
ed by medical men, who have written on this 
subject. Natives of colder and healthier re- 
gions, when exposed in southern and sickly 
climates, experience, if they remain any 
length of time without evident and violent 
disease, an alteration in the condition of the 
liver, and of the secreted bile itself; when it 
passes through the bowels, its color bei'lig 
much darker than usual. Sometimes, indeed, 
it appears to be 'locked up in the liver,' the 
stools having an ashen appearance. This 
state of the biliary secretion is frequently ac- 
companied, although the patient is otherwise 
apparently in tolerable health, by a pain over 
the eye-balls, particularly when the eyes are 
rolled upward. 

"The proper mode of treatment for such 
symptoms is, to take, without delay, not less 
than twenty grains of calomel, and, in eight 
hours, a wine-glass full of castor oil. The 
tone of the stomach should not be sufiered to 
sink too much after the operation of the medi- 
cine, which, if necessary, may be repeated in 
twenty-four hours. Sulphate of quinine, or 
other tonics, with nutritive food, which is easy 
of digestion, should also be taken in moderate 
portions at a time. 



102 



"Where diseases are rapid in their pro- 
gress, and dangerous, no time is to be lost. 
The practice ot" taking salts and other aperi- 
ents, when in exposed situations, and for the 
purpose of preventing disease, is injurious. 
It is sufficient, that the bowels be kept in a 
natural and healthy state; for all cathartics, 
even the mildest, have a tendency to nauseate 
the stomach, create debility, and weaken the 
digestive faculty. A reduction of tone in the 
system, which is always advantageous, will 
be more safely effected by using somewhat 
less than usual of animal food, and of spiritu- 
ous, strong, vinous or fermented liquors. The 
robust will derive benefit from losing a little 
blood. 

"It ought to be well understood, that as 
we approximate tropical climates, the doses 
of medicine, when taken, should be increased 
in quantity, and repeated with less delay than 
is admissible in colder countries. Exposure 
to the night air is certainly prejudicial; so also 
is the intense heat of the sun, in the middle 
of the day. Violent exercise should also be 
avoided. Bathing, daily, in water of a com- 
fortable temperature, is a very commendable 
practice; and cotton, worn next the skin, is 
preferable to linen. 

"It is impossible to prevent the influence 
of an atmosphere pregnant with the causes of 
disease; but the operation of those causes may 
generally be counteracted, by attention to the 
rules laid down; and it is no small consolation 



DISEASES. 103 

to be aware that, on recovery from the first 
attack, the system is better adapted to meet 
and sustain a second of a similar nature. The 
reader will understand that we do not allude 
to relapses, occurring while the system is en- 
feebled by the consequences of disease." 

To the foregoing remarks, I add the follow- 
ing, from an address of Judge Hall, Decem- 
ber 10, 1827: 

" The climate, particularly in reference to 
its influence on the human system, presents 
another subject of investigation. The western 
country has been considered unhealthy, and 
there have been writers, whose disturbed im.- 
aginations have misled them into a belief that 
the whole land was continually exposed to the 
most awful visitations of Providence, among 
which have been numbered the hurricane, the 
pestilence, and the earthquake. If we have 
been content to smile at such exaggeration, 
while few had leisure to attempt a serious re- 
futation, and while the facts upon which any 
deliberate opinion must have been based, had 
not been sufficiently tested by experience, the 
time has now arrived when it is no longer ex- 
cusable to submit in silence to the reproaches 
of ignorance or malice. It is proper, how- 
ever, to remark, as well in extenuation of 
those who have assailed our country, as in the 
support of the confidential denial, which I feel 
authorized to make to their assertions, that a 
vast improvement in the article of health has 
taken place within a few years. Diseases 



104 peck's guide. 

are now mild which were once malignant, and 
their occurrence is annually becoming less 
frequent. This happy change affords strong 
authority for the belief, that, although the mal- 
adies which have heretofore afflicted us were 
partly imputable to the climate, other and 
more powerful causes of disease must have 
existed, which have vanished. We, who 
came to the frontier while the axe was still 
busy in the forest, and when thousands of the 
acres which now yield abundance to the far- 
mer, were unreclaimed and tenantless, have 
seen the existence of our fellow-citizens as- 
sailed by other than the ordinary ministers of 
death. Toil, privation and exposure, have 
hurried many to the grave; imprudence and 
carelessness of life, have sent crowds of vic- 
tims prematurely to the tomb. It is not to be 
denied that the margins of our great streams 
in general, and many spots in the vicinity of 
extensive marshes, are subject to bilious dis- 
eases; but it may be as confidently asserted, 
that the interior country is healthy. Yet the 
first settlers invariably selected the rich al- 
luvion lands upon the navigable rivers, in 
preference to the scarcely less fertile soil of 
the prairies, lying in situations less accessible 
and more remote from market. They came 
to a wilderness in which houses were not pre- 
pared for their reception, nor food, other than 
that supplied by nature, provided for their 
sustenance. They often encamped on the 
margin of the river, exposed to its chilly atmos- 



DISEASES. 105 

phere, without a tent to shelter, with scarcely 
a blanket to protect them. Their first habita- 
tions were rude cabins, affording scarcely a 
shelter from the rain, and too frail to afford 
protection from the burning heat of the noon- 
day sun, or the chilling effects of the midnight 
blast. As their families increased, another 
and another cabin was added, as crazy and as 
cheerless as the first, until admonished of the 
increase of their own substance, the influx of 
wealthier neighbors, and the general improve- 
ment of the country around them, they were 
allured by pride to do that to which they never 
would nave been impelled by suffering. The 
gratuitous exposure to the climate, which the 
backwoodsman seems rather to court than 
avoid, is a subject of common remark. No 
extremity of weather confines him to the shel- 
ter of his own roof. Whether the object be 
business or pleasure, it is pursued with the 
same composure, amid the shadows of the 
night, or the howling of the tempest, as in the 
most genial season. Nor is this trait of char- 
acter confined to woodsmen or to farmers: 
examples of hardihood are contagious, and in 
this country all ranks of people neglect or 
despise the ordinary precautions with respect 
to health. Judges and lawyers, merchants, 
physicians and ministers of the gospel, set the 
seasons at defiance, in the pursuit of their re- 
spective callings. They prosecute their jour- 
neys, regardless of weather; and learn at last 
to feel little inconvenience from the exposure, 
5# 



106 peck's guide. 

which is silently undermining their constitu- 
tions. Is it extraordinary, that people thus 
exposed should be attacked by violent mala- 
dies? Would it not be more wonderful that 
such a careless prodigality of life could pass 
v/ith impunity? These remarks might be ex- 
tended; the food of the first settler, consisting 
chiefly of fresh meat, without vegetables, and 
often without salt; the common use of ardent 
spirits, the want of medical aid, by which dis- 
eases, at first simple, being neglected, become 
dangerous; and other evils peculiar to a new 
country, might be noticed, as fruitful sources 
of disease; but I have already dwelt suffi- 
ciently on this subject. That this country is 
decidedly healthy, I feel no hesitation in 
declaring; but neither argument nor naked 
assertions will convince the world. Let us 
collect such facts as amount to evidence, and 
establish the truth, by undeniable demonstra- 
tion." 



CHAPTER IV. 



CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND PURSUITS OF THE 
PEOPLE. 

Cotton and Sugar Planters — Farmers — Population of the 
large Towns and Cities — Frontier Class — Hunters and 
Trappers — B oatmen. 

There is great diversity in the character 
and habits of the population of the Valley of 
the Mississippi. 

Those who have emigrated from the Atlantic 
States, as have a very large proportion of those 
persons who were not born in the Valley, of 
course do not differ essentially from the re- 
maining population of those States. Some slight 
shades of difference are perceptible in such 
persons as have lived long enough in the coun- 
try to become assimilated to the habits, and 
partake of the feelings, of western people. 

Emigrants from Europe have brought the 
peculiarities of the nations and countries from 
whence they have originated, but are fast 
losing their national manners and feelings, 
and, to use a provincial term, will soon 
become "westernized." 



108 peck's guide. 

The march of emigration from the Atlantic 
border has been nearly in a line due west. 
Tennessee was settled by Carolinians, and 
Kentucky by Virginians. Ohio received the 
basis of its population from the States in the 
same parallel, and hence partakes of all the 
varieties from Maryland to New England. 
Michigan is substantially a child of New York. 
The planters of the south have gone to Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, and the southern part of Ar- 
kansas. Kentucky and Tennessee have spread 
their sons and daughters over Indiana, Illinois 
and Missouri; but the two former States are 
now receiving great numbers of emigrants 
from all the northern States including Ohio, 
and multitudes from the south, who desire to 
remove beyond the boundaries and influence 
of a slave population. 

Slavery in the West keeps nearly in the 
same parallels as it holds in the East, and 
is receding south, as it does on the Atlantic 
coast. Many descendants of the Scotch, Irish 
and Germans, have come into the frontier 
States from Western Pennsylvania. 

We have European emigrants from Great 
Britain and Ireland. Those of the latter are 
more generally found about our large towns 
and cities, and along the lines of canalling. 

The French were the explorers and early 
settlers of the Valley immediately bordering 
on the Mississippi, 150 years since. They 
formed the basis of population of Louisiana a 
few years since, but are relatively diminishing 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 109 

before the emigration from other States of the 
Union. Their descendants show many of the 
peculiar and distinctive traits of that people 
in all countries. They possess mild vivacity, 
and gayety, and are distinguished for their 
quiet, inoffensive, domestic, frugal, and unen- 
terprising spirit and manners. The poorer 
class of French are rather peculiar and 
unique. Their ancestors were isolated from 
the rest of the world, had no object of excite- 
ment or ambition, cared little for wealth, or 
the accumulation of property, and were ac- 
customed to hunt, make voyages in their 
canoes, smoke, and traffic with the Indians. 
But few of them knew how to read and write. 
Accustomed from infancy to the life of hunts- 
men, trappers and boatmen, they make but 
indifferent farmers. They are contented to 
live in the same rude, but neatly whitewashed 
cabin, cultivate the same corn-fields in the same 
mode, and drive the same rudely constructed 
horse-cart their fathers did. In the neatness 
of their gardens, which are usually cultivated 
by the females, they excel the Americans. 
They are the courenrs clu bcis of the West. 

The European Germans are now coming 
into the Valley by thousands, and, for a time, 
will retain their manners and language. 

Cotton and Sugar Planters. These people, 
found chiefly in Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
the southern part of Arkansas, have a great 
degree of similarity. They are noted for 
their high-raindedness, generosity, liberality. 



110 peck's guide. 

hospitality, sociability quick sense of honor, 
resentment of injuries, indolence, and, in too 
many cases, dissipation. They are much ad- 
dicted to the sports of the turf and the vices 
of the gaming table. Still there are many 
planters of strictly moral, and even religious 
habits. They are excessively jealous of their 
political rights, yet frank and open-hearted in 
their dispositions, and carry the duties of 
hospitality to a great extent. Having over- 
seers on most of their plantations, the labor 
being performed by the slaves, they have 
much leisure, and are averse to much person- 
al attention to business. They dislike care, 
profound thinking and deep impressions. The 
young men are volatile, gay, dashing and 
reckless spirits, fond of excitement and high 
life. There is a fatal propensity amongst the 
southern planters to decide quarrels, and even 
trivial disputes, by duels. But there are also 
many amiable and noble traits of character 
amongst this class; and if the principles of the 
Bible and religion could be brought to exert a 
controlling influence, there would be a noble 
spirited race of peoplein the south-western 
States. 

It cannot be expected that I should pass in 
entire silence the system of slave-holding in 
the Lower Valley, or its influence on the man- 
ners and habits of the people. This state of 
society seems unavoidable at present, though 
I have no idea or expectation it will be per- 
petual. Opposite sentiments and feelings are 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. Ill 

spreading over the whole earth, and a person 
must have been a very inattentive observer of 
the tendencies and effects of the diffusion of 
liberal principles, not to perceive that heredi- 
tary, domestic servitude must have an end. 

This is a subject, however, that, from our 
civil compact, belongs exclusively to the citi- 
zens of the States concerned; and if not un- 
reasonably annoyed, the farming slave-holding 
States, as Kentucky, Tennesse, and Missouri, 
will soon provide for its eventual termination. 
Doubtless, in the cotton and sugar-growing 
States it will retain its hold with more tenacity; 
but the influence of free principles will roll 
onward until the evil is annihilated. 

The barbarous and unwise regulations in 
some of the planting States, which prohibit the 
slaves from being taught to read, are a serious 
impediment to the moral and religious instruc- 
tion of that numerous and unfortunate class. 
Such laws display, on the part of the law ma- 
kers, little knowledge of human nature, and 
the real tendency of things. To keep slaves 
entirely ignorant of the rights of man, in this 
spirit-stirring age, is utterly impossible. Seek 
out the remotest and darkest corner of Louis- 
iana, and plant every guard that is possible 
around the negro quarters, and the light of 
truth will penetrate. Slaves will find out, for 
they already know it, that they possess rights 
as men. And here is the fatal mistake now 
committed in the southern slave-holding States 
— legislating against the instruction of their 



112 peck's guide. 

slaves, to keep them from knowing their 
rights. They will obtain some loose, vague, 
and undefined notion of the doctrine of human 
rights, and the unrighteousness of oppression 
in this republican country. Being kept from 
all the moral and religious instruction which 
Sabbath schools, the Bible, and other good 
books are calculated to impart, and with those 
undefined notions of liberty, and without any 
moral principle, they are prepared to enter 
into the first insurrectionary movement pro- 
posed by some artful and talented leader. 
The same notion prevailed in the West Indies 
half a century since, and many of the planters 
resisted and persecuted the benevolent Mora- 
vians, who went there to instruct the blacks 
in the principles and duties of religion. A 
few of the planters reasoned justly. They 
invited these benevolent men on their planta- 
tions, and gave them full liberty on the Sab- 
bath, and at other suitable seasons, to instruct 
their slaves. The happiest effects followed. 
On these plantations, where riot, misrule, 
and threatened insurrections, had once spread 
a panic through the colony, order, quietness 
and submission followed. Such would be the 
effects if the southern planter would invite 
the minister of the gospel and the Sabbath 
school teacher to visit his plantation, allow 
his slaves to be instructed to read, and each 
to be furnished with a copy of the Scriptures. 
The southern planter hourly lives under the 
most terrific apprehensions. It is in vain to 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 113 

disguise the fact. As Mr. Randolph once 
sigijiiicaiitly said in Congress, '"when the 
night bell rings, the mother hugs her infard 
closer to her breast.'''' vSlavery, under any 
circumstances, is a bitter draught — equally 
bitter to him who tenders the cup, and to him 
who drinks it. But in all the northern slave- 
holding States, it is comparatively mild. Its 
condition would be much alleviated, and the 
planter might sleep securely, if he would 
abolish his barbarous laws, more congenial 
with Asiatic despotism than American repub- 
licanism, and provide for his slaves the bene- 
fits of wholesome instruction. Philanthropy 
and interest unite in their demands upon 
every southern planter to provide Sunday 
school instruction for his slaves. 

The planting region of the Lower Valley 
furnishes an immense market for the produc- 
tions and manufactures of the Upper Valley. 
Indirectly, the Louisiana sugar business is a 
source of profit to the farmer of Illinois and 
Missouri. Pork, beef, corn, ccrn-meal, flour, 
potatoes, butter, hay, &.C., in vast quantities, 
go to supply these plantations. In laying in 
their stores, the sugar planters usually pur- 
chase one barrel of second or third quality of 
beef or pork per annum, for each laborer. 
Large drafts for sugar-mills, engines and boil- 
ers, are made upon the Cincinnati and Pitts- 
burgh iron foundries. Mules and horses are 
driven from the upper country, or from the 
Mexican dominions, to keep up the supply. 
6 



114 peck's guide. 

The commerce of the upper coimtrj that 
concentrates at New Orleans is amazing, and 
every year is rapidly increasing. Sixteen 
hundred arrivals of steam-boats took place in 
1832, and the estimated number, in 1835, is 
2300. 

Farmers. In the northern half of the Val- 
ley the productions, and the modes of cultiva- 
tion and living are such as to characterize a 
large proportion of the population as farm- 
ers. No country on earth has such facilities 
for agriculture. The soil is abundantly fer- 
tile, the seasons ordinarily favorable to the 
growth and maturity of crops, and every 
farmer, in a few years, with reasonable indus- 
try, becomes comparatively independent. 
Tobacco and hemp are among the staple pro- 
ductions of Kentucky. 

Neat cattle, horses, mules and swine are 
its stock. Some stock growers have monop- 
olized the smaller farms till they are surround- 
ed with several thousand acres. Blue grass 
pastures furnish summer feed, and exten- 
sive fields of corn, cut up near the ground, 
and stacked in the fields, furnish stores for fat- 
tening stock in the winter. 

In some counties, raising of stock has taken 
place of all other business. The Scioto Val- 
ley, and other districts in Ohio, are famous 
for fine, well-fed beef. Thousands of young 
cattle are purchased by the Ohio graziers, at 
the close of winter, of the farmers of Illinois 
and Missouri. The Miami and White-water 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 115 

sections of Ohio and Indiana, abound with 
swine. Cincinnati has been the great pork 
mart of the world. 150,000 head of hogs 
have been frequently slaughtered there in a 
season. About 75,000 is estimated to have 
been the number slaughtered at that place the 
past season. This apparent falling off in the 
pork business, at Cincinnati, is accounted for 
by the vast increase of business at other pla- 
ces. Since the opening of the canals in Ohio, 
many provision establishments have been 
made along their line. Much business of the 
kind is now done at Terre Haute, and other 
towns on the Wabash, — at Madison, Louis- 
ville, and other towns on the Ohio, — at Alton, 
and other places in Illinois. 

The farmers of the West are independent 
in feeling, plain in dress, simple in manners, 
frank and hospitable in their dwellings, and 
soon acquire a competency by moderate labor. 
Those from Kentucky, Tennessee, or other 
States south of the Ohio river, have large 
fields, well cultivated, and enclosed with 
strong built rail or worm fences, but they often 
neglect to provide spacious barns and other 
out-houses for their grain, hay and stock. 
The influence of habit is powerful. A Ken- 
tuckian would look with contempt upon the 
low fences of a New Englander, as indicating 
thriftless habits, while the latter would point 
at the unsheltered stacks of wheat, and dirty 
threshing-floor of the former, as proof direct 
of bad economy and wastefulness. 



116 peck's guide. 

PojmJation of the Cities and large Towns. 
The population of western towns does not 
differ essentially from the same class in the 
Atlantic States, excepting there is much less 
division into grades and ranks, less ignor- 
ance, low depravity and squalid poverty 
amongst the poor, and less aristocratic feeling 
amongst the rich. As there is never any 
lack of employment for laborers of every de- 
scription, there is comparatively no suffering 
from that cause. And the hospitable habits 
of the people provide for the sick, infirm and 
helpless. Doubtless, our circumstances, more 
than any thing else, cause these shades of 
difference. The common mechanic is on a 
social equality with the merchant, the lawyer, 
the physician, and the minister. They have 
shared in the same fatigues and privations, 
partook of the same homely fare, in many in- 
stances have fought side by side in defence of 
their homes against the inroads of savages, — 
are frequently elected to the same posts of 
honor, and have accumulated property simul- 
taneously. Many mechanics in the western 
cities and towns, are the owners of their own 
dwellings, and of other buildings, which they 
rent. I have known many a wealthy merchant, 
or professional gentleman occupy on rent, a 
building worth several thousand dollars, the 
property of some industrious mechanic, who, 
but a few years previous, was an apprentice 
lad, or worked at his trade as a journeyman. 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC, 117 

Any sober, industrious mechanic can place 
himself in affluent circumstances, and place 
his children on an equality with the children 
of the commercial and professional communi- 
ty, by migrating to any of our new and rising 
western towns. They will find no occasion 
here for combinations to sustain their interests, 
nor meet with annoyance from gangs of un- 
principled foreigners, under the imposing 
names of " Trades Unions." 

Manufactures of various kinds are carried 
on in our western cities. Pittsburgh has 
been characterized as the "Birmingham of 
America." The manufactures of iron, ma- 
chinery, and glass, and the building of steam- 
boats, are carried on to a great extent. 

Iron and salt are made in great quantities, 
in Western Pennsylvania and Western Vir- 
ginia. Steam-boats are built, to a considerable 
extent, at Fulton, two miles above Cincinnati, 
and occasionally, at many other places on the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Alton offers great 
facilities for this business. Cotton bagging, 
bale ropes and cordage, are manufactured in 
Tennessee and Kentucky. The following ar- 
ticle, from the Covington Enquirer, gives a 
few items of the industry and enterprise of 
Kentucky, — of the manufacture of Newport 
and Covington. Both of these thriving towns 
lie at the mouth of the Licking river, the one 
on the right bank, and the other on the left, 
and both in direct view of Cincinnati. 



118 peck's guide. 

Mannfactures in Covington and JVewport. 

" Founding the calculation upon the actual 
manufactures of October, and the known 
power of their machinery, the company will, 
the ensuing year, give employment to more 
than four hundred operatives, and manufac- 
ture, — 

Cotton bagging, 60,000 pounds. 

yarns, 84,000 " 

Bale rope, 274,268 '« 

Cordage, 448,000 " 

Linseys, 44,592 yards, 

Cotton plains, 63,588 " 

Kentucky jeans, 97,344 " 

Cotton bagging and hemp, 548,530 " 

"Estimating bale rope and cotton bagging 
at thirty-three per cent, under the price at 
which the company have sold these articles 
for the last six months, the manufactures of 
this company, during the ensuing year, will 
amount to ^358,548 44. Almost all the manu- 
factures at Covington and Newport being ex- 
ported to foreign markets, it will result that 
the annual exports from these points will, in 
round numbers, be, from the 

Interior, |-750,000 

Campbell county, 150,000 

Boone " 234,000 

Covington, 548,500 

Newport, . , 358,500 

$2,041,000 
" The Newport Manufacturing Company 
has depended principally, for its supply of 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 119 

hemp, on the production of Mason county, of 
which Maysviile is the market. This season, 
they have not been able lo get a supply at 
Maysviile; and it is a remarkable fact in the 
history of the hemp manufactories in Ken- 
tucky, that this company, owing to the scarci- 
ty and high prices of hemp in Kentucky, have 
imported this season, 354,201 /6s. Russia hemp.'^ 

Various manufactories are springing up in 
all the new States, which will be noticed un- 
der their proper heads. 

The number of merchants and traders is 
very great in the Valley of the Mississippi, 
yet mercantile business is rapidly increasing. 
Thousands of the farmers of the West are 
partial traders. They take their own pro- 
duce, in their own flat boats, down the rivers 
to the market of the lower country. 

Frontier Class of Population. The rough, 
sturdy habits of the backwoodsmen, living in 
that plenty which depends on God and na- 
ture, have laid the foundation of independent 
thought and feeling deep in the minds of west- 
ern people. 

<K Generally, in all the western settlements, 
three classes, like the waves of the ocean, 
have rolled one after the other. First, comes 
the pioneer, who depends for the subsistence 
of his family chiefly upon the natural growth 
of vegetation, called the "range," and the 
proceeds of hunting. His implements of ag- 
riculture are rude, chiefly of his own make, 
and his efforts directed mainly to a crop of 



liiO peck's guide. 

corn, and a "truck patch." The last is a 
rude garden for growing cabbage, beans, corn 
for roasting ears, cucumbers and potatoes. 
A log cabin, and, occasionally, a stable and 
corn-crib, and a field of a dozen acres, the 
timber girdled or "deadened," and fenced, 
are enough for his occupancy. It is quite im- 
material whether he ever becomes the owner 
of the soil. He is the occupant for the time 
being, pays no rent, and feels as independent 
as the " lord of the manor." With a horse, 
cow, and one or two breeders of swine, he 
strikes into the woods with his family, and 
becomes the founder of a new county, or per- 
haps State. He builds his cabin, gathers 
around him a few other families of similar 
taste and habits, and occupies till the range 
is somewhat subdued, and hunting a little pre- 
carious, or, which is moi-e frequently the 
case, till neighbors crowd around, roads, 
bridges and fields annoy him, and he lacks 
elbow room. The preemption law enables 
him to dispose of his cabin and corn-field, to 
the next class of emigrants, and, to employ 
his own figures, he " breaks for the high tim- 
ber," " clears out for the New Purchase," or 
migrates to Arkansas, or Texas, to work the 
same process over. 

The next class of emigrants purchase the 
lands, add field to field, clear out the roads, 
throw rough bridges over the streams, put 
up hewn log houses, wirh glass windows, and 
brick or stone chimneys, occasionally plant 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 12l 

orchards, build -mills, school-houses, court- 
houses, &c., and exhibit the picture and forms 
of plain, frugal, civilized life. 

Another wave rolls on. The men of capital 
and enterprise come. The "settler " is ready 
to sell out, and take the advantage of the rise 
of property, — push farther into the interior, 
and become himself, a man of capital and en- 
terprise in turn. The small village rises to a 
spacious town or city ; substantial edifices of 
brick, extensive fields, orchards, gardens, 
colleges and churches are seen. Broadcloths, 
silks, leghorns, crapes, and all the refinements 
luxuries, elegancies, frivolities and fashions, 
are in vogue. Thus wave after wave is roll- 
ing westward: — the real el dorado is still far- 
ther on. 

A portion of the two first classes remain 
stationary amidst the general movement, im- 
prove their habits and condition, and rise in 
the scale of society. 

The v/riter has traveled much amongst the 
i^rst class, — the real pioneers. He has lived 
many years in connexion with the second 
grade; and now the third wave is sweeping 
over large districts of Indiana, Illinois and 
jlissouri. Migration has become almost a 
habit, in the West. Hundreds of men can be 
found, not fifty years of age, who have settled 
for the fourth, fifth, or sixth time on a new 
spot. To sell out, and remove only a few 
hundred miles, makes up a portion of the va- 
riety of backwoods life and manners._j|^ 



122 peck's guide. 

But to return to the frontier class: 

1. Dress. The hunting-shirt is universally 
worn. This is a kind of loose, open frock, 
reaching halfway down the thighs, with large 
sleeves, the body open in front, lapped over 
and belted with a leathern girdle, held to- 
gether by a buckle. The cape is large, and 
usually fringed with different colored cloth 
from that of the body. The bosom of this 
dress sometimes serves as a wallet for a 
"chunk" of bread, jerk or smoke-dried veni- 
son, and other articles. It is made either of 
dressed deer-skins, linsey, coarse linen, or 
cotton. The shirt, waistcoat and pantaloons 
are of similar articles, and of the customary 
form. Wrappers, of cloth or dressed skins, 
called "leggins," are tied round the legs 
when traveling. Moccasins, of deer skins, 
shoe-packs and rough shoes, the leather tan- 
ned and cobbled by the owner, are worn on 
the ieet. 

The females dress in a coarse gown, of cot- 
ton, a bonnet of the same stuff, and denomi- 
nated in the Eastern States a " sun bonnet." 
The latter is constantly worn through the day, 
especially when company is present. The 
clothing, for both sexes, is made at home. 
The wheel and loom are common articles of 
furniture, in every cabin. 

2. Dwellings. "Cabin" is the name for a 
plain, rough log house, throughout the West. 
The spot being selected, usually, in the tim- 
bered land, and near some spring, the first 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 123 

operation of the newly arrived emigrant is to 
cut about forty logs, of the proper size and 
length, for a single cabin, or twice that num- 
ber for a double one, and haul them to the 
spot. A large oak, or other suitable timber, 
of staight grain and free from limbs, is selected 
for clapboards for the roof: these are four feet 
in length, split with a froe, six or eight inches 
wide and half an inch thick. Puncheons are 
used for the floor: these are made by splitting 
trees, about eighteen inches in diameter, into 
slabs, two or three inches in thickness, and 
hewn on the upper surface. The door-way is 
made by cutting out the logs, after raising, of 
a suitable width, and putting upright pieces of 
timber at the sides. The shutter is made of 
clapboards, pinned on cross pieces, hung by 
wooden hinges, and fastened by a wooden 
latch. A similar aperture, but wider, is made 
at one end, for the chimney. The men of the 
settlement, when notified, collect and raise 
the building. Four stout men, with axes, are 
placed on the corners, to notch the logs to- 
gether, while the rest of the company lift them 
up. After the roof is on, the body of the build- 
ing is slightly hewed down, both outside and 
inside. The roof is formed by shortening each 
end log, in succession, till one log forms the 
comb of the roof The clapboards are put on 
so as to cover all cracks, and held down by 
poles, or small logs. The chimney is built of 
sticks of wood, the largest at the bottom, and 
the smallest at the top, and laid up with a sup- 



124 peck's guide. 

ply of mud or clay mortar. The interstices 
betM'een the logs are chinked with strips of 
wood, and daubed with mortar, both outside 
and inside. A double cabin consists of two 
such buildings, with a space of ten or twelve 
feet between, over which the roof extends. 

A log house, in western parlance, differs 
from a cabin, in the logs being hewn on two 
sides, to an equal thickness, before raising; in 
having a framed and shingled roof, a brick or 
stone chimney, windows, tight floors, and are 
frequently clapboarded on the outside, and 
plastered within. 

A log house thus finished, costs more than 
a framed one. Cabins are often the tempora- 
ry dwelling of opulent and highly respectable 
families. 

The axe, auger, froe, drawing-knife, broad 
axe, and cross-cut saw, are the only tools re- 
quired in constructing these rude edifices; 
sometimes the axe and auger only are em- 
ployed. Not a nail or pane of glass is need- 
ed. Cabins are by no means so wretched for 
residences, as their name imports. They are 
often roomy, comfortable and neat. If one is 
not sufiicient to accommodate the family, 
another is added, and another, until sufiicient 
room is obtained. 

3. Furniture, and mode of living. The genu- 
ine backwoodsman makes himself and family 
comfortable and contented, where those, un- 
accustomed to his mode of life, would live in 
unavailing regret, or make a thousand awk- 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 125 

ward apologies on the visit of a neighbor or 
traveler. A table is made of a split slab, and 
supported by four round legs. Clapboards, 
supported by pins stuck in the logs, answer 
for shelves for table furniture. The bedstead 
is often made in the corner of the room, by 
sticks, placed in the logs, supported at the 
outward corner by a post, on which clapboards 
are laid, the ends of which enter the wall, be- 
tween the logs, and which support the bed- 
ding. On the arrival of travelers or visiters, 
the bed clothing is shared with them, being 
spread on the puncheon floor, that the feet 
may project towards the fire. Many a night 
has the writer passed in this manner, after a 
fatiguing day's ride, and reposed more com- 
fortably than on a bed of down, in a spacious 
mansion. All the family, of both sexes, with 
all the strangers who arrive, often lodge in 
the same room. In that case, the under gar- 
ments are never taken off, and no conscious- 
ness of impropriety or indelicacy of feeling is 
manifested. A few pins, stuck in the wall of 
the cabin, display the dresses of the women 
and the hunting-shirts of the men. Two small 
forks, or buck's horns, fastened to a joist, are 
indispensable articles for the support of the 
rifle. A loose floor of clapboards, and sup- 
ported by round poles, is thrown over head, 
for a loft, which furnishes a place to throw- 
any articles not immediately wanted, and is 
frequently used for a lodging place for the 
younger branches of the family. A ladder 



126 peck's guide. 

planted in the corner, behind the door, an- 
swers the purpose of stairs. 

The necessary table and kitchen furniture 
are a few pewter dishes and spoons, knives 
and forks (for which, however, the common 
hunting-knife is often a substitute), tin cups, 
for coffee or milk, a water-pail, and a small 
gourd or calabash for water, with a pot, and 
iron Dutch oven, constitute the chief articles. 
Add to these a tray, for wetting up meal, for 
corn-bread, a coffee-pot and set of cups and 
saucers, a set of common plates, and the 
cabin is furnished. The hominy mortar and 
hand-mill, are in use in all frontier settle- 
ments. The first, consists of a block of wood, 
with an excavation burned at one end, and 
scraped out with an iron tool, wide at top and 
narrow at the bottom, that the action of the 
pestle may operate to the best advantage. 
Sometimes a stump of a large tree is excava- 
ted, while in its natural position; an elastic 
pole, twenty or thirty feet in length, with the 
large end fastened under the ground log of 
the cabin, and the other elevated ten or fifteen 
feet, and supported by two forks, to which a 
pestle five or six inches in diameter, and eight 
or ten feet long, is fixed, on the elevated end, 
by a large mortice, and a pin put through its 
lower end, so that two persons can work it in 
conjunction. This is much used for pounding 
corn. A very simple instrument, to answer 
the same purpose, is a circular piece of tin, 
perforated, and attached to a piece of wood, 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 127 

like a grater, on which the ears of corn are 
rubbed, for meal. The hand-mill is in the 
same form as that used in Judea, in the time 
of our Savior. Two circular stones, about 
eighteen inches in diameter, constructed like 
ordinary mill-stones, with a staff let into the 
runner or upper stone near its outer edge, 
with the upper end inserted in a joist or board 
over head, and turned by the hands of two 
persons, while one feeds it with corn. Horse- 
mills follow the mortar and hand-mill, in the 
scale of improvement. They are constructed 
variously. A band-m\\\ is the most simple. 
A large, upright post is placed on a gudgeon, 
with shafts extending horizontally, fifteen or 
twenty feet; around the ends of these is a 
band of raw hide, twisted, which passes round 
the trundle head and turns the spindle, and 
communicates motion to the stone. A coof-mill 
is formed by constructing a rim, with cogs 
upon the shafts, and a trundle head to corres- 
pond. Each person furnishes his own horses 
to turn the mill, performs his own grinding, 
and pays toll to the owner, for the use of the 
mill. Mills, with the wheel on an inclined 
plane, and carried by oxen standing on the 
wheel, are much in use in those sections 
where water-power is not convenient; but 
these indicate an advance to the second grade 
of society. 

Instead of bolting-cloths, the frontier people 
use a sieve, or, as it is called here, a "search." 
This is made from a deer-skin, prepared to 



128 peck's guide. 

resemble parchment, stretched on a hoop, and 
perforated lull of holes, with a hot wire. 

Every backwoodsman carries, on all occa- 
sions, the means of furnishing his meat. The 
rifle, bullet-pouch, and horn, hunting-knife, 
horse and dog, are his constant companions, 
when from home, and wo be to the wolf, bear, 
deer or turkey that comes within one hundred 
and fifty yards of his trail. 

With the first emigration there are few me- 
chanics; hence every settler becomes expert 
in supplying his ov/n necessaries. Besides 
clearing land, building cabins, and making 
fences, he stocks his own plough, repairs his 
wagon and his harness, tans his own leather, 
makes his shoes, tables, bedsteads, stools, or 
seats, trays, and a hundred other articles. 
These may be rudely constructed, but they 
answer his purpose very well. 

The following extracts, from the graphic 
"Sketches of the West," by Jam.es Hall, 
Esq., completes this extended picture of back- 
woods manners: 

" The traveler, accustomed to different 
modes of life, is struck with the rude and un- 
comfortable appearance of every thing about 
this people; the rudeness of their habitations, 
the carelessness of their agriculture, the un- 
sightly coarseness of all their implements and 
furniture, the unambitious homeliness of all 
their goods and chattels, except the axe, the 
rifle, and the horse, these being invariably 
the best and handsomest which their means 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 129 

enable them to procure. But he is mistaken 
in supposing them indolent or improvident; 
and is little aware how much ingenuity and 
toil have been exerted in procuring the few 
comforts Vv hich they possess, in a country 
without arts, mechanics, mofiey, or commer- 
cial intercouj-sc. , . ' 

"The backwoodsman has many substantial 
enjoyments. After the fatigue of his journey, 
and a short season of privation and danger, 
he finds himself surrounded with plenty. His 
cattle, hogs and poultry, supply his table with 
meat; the forest abounds in game; the fertile 
jsoil yields abundant crops; he has, of course, 
bread, milk and butter; the rivers furnish fish, 
and the woods hohey. For these various ar- 
ticles, there is, at first, no market,;, and the 
farmer acquires the generous habit of spread- 
ing them profusely on his table, and giving 
them freely to a hungry traveler or indigent 
neighbor. 

*' Hospitality and kindness itre among the 
virtues of the first settlers. Exposed to com- 
mon dangers and toils, they become united by 
the closest ties of social intercourse. Accus- 
tomed to arm in each other''s defence, to aid in 
each other's labor, to assist in the affectionate 
duty of nursing the sick, and the mournful 
office of burying the dead, the best affections 
of the heart are kept in constant exercise; and 
there is, perhaps, no class of men in our 
country, who obey the calls of benevolence, 
6* 



130 feck's guide. 

with such cheerful promptness, or with so 
liberal a sacrifice ot^ personal convenience. 

" We read marvellous stories of the ferocity 
of western men. The name of Kentuckian is 
constantly associated with the idea of fighting, 
dirking and gouging. The people of whom 
we are now writing, do not deserve this char- 
acter. They live together in great harmony, 
with little contention, and less litigation. The 
backwoodsmen are a generous and placable 
race. They are bold and impetuous; and, 
when differences do arise among them, they 
are more apt to give vent to their resentment 
at once, than to brood over their wrongs, or 
to seek legal redress. But this conduct is 
productive of harmony; for men are always 
more guarded in their deportment to each 
other, and more cautious of giving offence, 
v/hen they know that the insult will be quick- 
ly felt, and instantly resented, than when the 
consequences of an offensive action are doubt- 
ful, and the retaliation distant. We have no 
evidence that the pioneers of Kentucky were 
quarrelsome or cruel; and an intimate ac- 
quaintance with the same race, at a later 
period, has led the writer to the conclusion, 
that they are a humane people; bold and dar- 
ing, when opposed to an enemy, but amiable 
in their intercourse with each other and with 
strangers, and habitually inclined to peace." 

In morals, and the essential principles of 
religion, this class of people are by no means 
so defective as many imagine. The writer 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 131 

has, repeatedly, been in settlements and dis- 
tricts beyond the pale of civil and criminal 
law, where the people are " a law unto them- 
selves," where courts, lawyers, sheriffs and 
constables existed not, and yet has seen as 
much quiet and order, and more honesty in 
paying just debts, than where legal restraints 
operated in all their force. The turpitude of 
vice and the majesty of virtue, were as ap- 
parent as in older settlements. Industry, in 
laboring or hunting, bravery in war, candor, 
honesty and hospitality were rewarded with 
the confidence and honor of the people. 
Regulating parties would exist, and thieves, 
rogues and counterfeiters were sure to re- 
ceive a striped jacket, "worked nineteen to 
the dozen;" and by this mode of operation, 
induced to "clear out:" but truth, upright- 
ness, honesty and sincerity are always re- 
spected. Many of the frontier class are il- 
literate, but they are, by no means, ignorauL 
They are a shrewd, observing, thinking peo- 
ple. They may not have learned the black 
marks in books, but they have studied mtn 
and things, and have a quick insight into hu- 
Oian nature. They are not inattentive to re- 
ligion, though their opportunities of religious 
instruction are fev/ compared with old coun- 
tries. They have prejudices and fears about 
many of the organized benevolent societies of 
the present age, yet there are no people more 
readily disposed to attend religious meetings, 
and whose hearts are more readily affected 



132 PECK^S GUIDE. 

with the gospel, than the backwoods people ; 
and as large a proportion are orderly profes- 
sors of religion as in any part of the Union. 
Ministers of the gospel and missionaries, who 
can suit themselves to the circumstances and 
habits of frontier people; who, like Paul, can 
" become all things to all men," find pleasant 
and interesting lields of labor on all our fron- 
tiers. But let such persons show fastidious- 
ness, affect superior intelligence and virtue, 
catechise the people for their plainness and 
simplicity of manners, and draw invidious 
comparisons, and they are sure to be " used 
up," or left without hearers, to deplore the 
" dark clouds " of ignorance and prejudice in 
the West. 

Hunters and Trappers. Kntirely beyond the 
boundaries of civilization, are many hundreds 
of an unique class, distinguished by the terms 
hunters and trappers. They are engaged in 
hunting buffalo, and other wild game, and 
trapping for beaver. They are found upon 
the vast prairies of the West and north-west; 
in all the defiles, and along the streams of the 
Rocky mountains, and in various parts of the 
Oregon Territory, to the peninsula of Califor- 
nia. They are an enterprising and erratic 
race, from almost every State, and are usually 
in the employ of persons of capital and enter- 
prise, and who are concerned in the fur and 
peltry business. Expeditions for one, two, 
or three years, are fitted out from St. Louis, 
or some commercial point, consisting of com- 



CHARACTER, PURSUITS, ETC. 133 

panies, who ascend the rivers to the regions 
of fur. The hunters and trappers receive a 
proportion of the profits of the expedition. 
Some becomo so enamored with this wander- 
ing and exposed life, as to lose all desire of 
returning to the abodes of civilization, and 
remain for the rest of their lives in the Amer- 
ican deserts. There are individuals, who are 
graduates of colleges, and who once stood 
high in the circles of refinement and taste, 
that have passed more than twenty years 
amongst the roaming tribes of the Rocky 
mountains, or on the western slope, till they 
have apparently lost all feelings towards civil- 
ized life. They have aflfbrded an interesting 
but melancholy example of the tendencies of 
human nature towards the degraded state of 
savages. The improvement of the species is 
a slow and laborious process; — the deteriora- 
tion is rapid, and requires only to be divested 
of restraint, and left to its own unaided ten- 
dencies. Many others have returned to the 
habits of civilization, and some with fortunes 
made from the woods and prairies. 

Boatmen. These are the fresh-water sailors 
of the West, with much of the light-hearted, 
reckless character of the sons of the ocean, in- 
cluding peculiar shades of their own. Before 
the introduction of steam-boats on the western 
waters, its immense commerce was carried on 
by means of keel-boats and barges. The for- 
mer is much in the shape of a canal-boat, 
long, slim-built, sharp at each end, and pro- 



134 peck's guide. 

pelled by setting-poles, and the cordelle or 
long rope. The barge is longer, and has a 
bow and stern. Both are calculated to as- 
cend streams, but by a very slow process. 
Each boat would require from ten to thirty 
hands, according to its size. A number of 
these boats frequently sailed in company. 
The boatmen were proverbially lawless, at 
every town and landing, and indulged with- 
out restraint in every species of dissipation, 
debauchery and excess. But this race has 
become reformed, or nearly extinct ; — yes, 
reformed, by the mighty power of steam. A 
steam-boat, with half the crew of a barge or 
keel, will carry ten times the burden, and 
perform six or eight trips in the time it took 
a keel-boat to make one voyage. Thousands 
of flat boats, or " broad horns," as they are 
called, pass down the rivers, with the produce 
of the country, which are managed by the 
farmers of the West, but never return up 
stream. They are sold for lumber, and the 
owners, after disposing of the cargo, return 
by steam. The number of boatmen on the 
western waters is not only greatly reduced, 
but those that remain are fast losing their 
original character. 



CHAPTER V 



PUBLIC LAND?:. 



System of Surveys — INIeiidian and Base Lines — Town- 
ships — Diagram of a Township, surveyed into Sections 
— Land Districts and Offices — Preemption Rights — 
Military Bounty Lands — Taxes — Valuable Tracts of 
Country unsettled. 

In all the new States and Territories, the 
lands which are owned by the general gov- 
ernment, are surveyed and sold under one 
general system. Several offices, each under 
the direction of a surveyor-general, hav^been 
established by acts of Congress, and districts, 
embracing one or more States, assigned them. 
The office for the surveys of all public lands 
in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and the Wiscon- 
sin country, is located at Cincinnati. The 
one including the States of Illinois, Missouri 
and Arkansas, is at St. Louis. Deputy-sur- 
veyors are employed to do the work at a stip- 
ulated rate per mile, generally from three to 
four dollars, who employ chain-bearers, an 
axe and flag man, and a camp-keeper. They 
are exposed to great fatigue and hardships, 



136 peck's guide. 

spending two or three months at a time in 
the woods and prairies, with slight, movable 
camps for shelter. 

In the surveys, meridian lines are first es- 
tablished, running north iVom the mouth of 
some noted river : these are intersected with 
base lines. 

There are five principal meridians in the 
land-surveys in the West. 

The fo'st iDrincipal meridian is a line due 
north from the mouth of the Miami. 

The second principal meridian is a line due 
north from the mouth of Little Blue river, in 
Indiana. 

The third principal meridian is a line due 
north from the mouth of the Ohio. 

The fourth principal meridian is a line due 
north from the mouth of the Illinois. 

The ffih principal meridian is a line due 
north from the mouth of the Arkansas. 
Another meridian is used for Michigan, which 
passes through the central part of the State. 
Its base line extends from about the middle 
lake St. Clair, across the State, west, to lake 
Michigan. Each of these meridians has its 
own base line. 

The surveys connected with the third and 
fourth meridians, and a small portion of the 
second, embrace the State of Illinois. 

The base line lor both the second and third 
principal meridians commences at Diamond 
Island, in Ohio, opposite Indiana, and runs 
due west, till it strikes the Mississsippi, a few 
miles below St. Louis. 



PUBLIC LA.\DS. 137 

All tlio townships in Illinois, south and east 
of the Illinois river, are numbered from this 
base line, either north or south. 

The thiid principal meridian terminates 
with the northern boundary of the State. 

The fouit.'i prin'cipal meridian commences 
in the centre of the channel, and at the mouth 
of the Illinois river, but innncdiatelj crosses 
to the east shore, and passes up on that side 
(and at one place nearly fourteen miles dis- 
tant), to a point in the channel of the river, 
seventy -two miles from its mouth. Here its 
base line commences, and extends across the 
peninsula to the Mississippi, a short distance 
above Quincy. The fourth principal meridian 
is continued northward through the military 
tract, and across Rock river, to a curve in 
the Mississippi, at the upper rapids, in town- 
ship eighteen north, and about twelve or fif- 
teen miles above Rock island. It here crosses 
and passes up the ivest side of the Mississippi 
river, tifty-three miles, and recrosses into Il- 
linois, and passes through the town of Galena, 
to the northern boundary of the State. It is 
thence continued to the Wisconsin river, and 
made the principal meridian for the surveys 
of the Territory, while the northern boundary 
line of the State is constituted its base line for 
that region. 

Having formed a principal meridian, with 
its corresponding base line, for a district of 
country, the next operation of the surveyor is 
to divide this into tracts of six miles square, 
called townships. 



138 peck's guide. 

In numbering the townships east or u'esf 
from a principal meridian, they are called 
ranges, meaning a range of townships; but in 
numbering north or south from a base line, 
they are called tmvnshrps. Thus a tract of 
land is said to be situated in township four 
north, in range three east, from the third 
principal meridian; or as the case may be. 

Townships are subdivided into square miles, 
or tracts of six hundred and forty acres each, 
called sections. If near timber, trees are 
marked and numbered with the section, town- 
ship and range, near each sectional corner. 
If in a large prairie, a mound is raised to de- 
signate the corner, and a billet of charred 
wood buried, if no rock is near. Sections are 
divided into halves, by a line north and south, 
and into quarters, by a transverse line. In 
sales under certain conditions, quarters are 
sold in equal subdivisions of forty acres each, 
at §^1 25 per acre. Any person, whether a 
native-born citizen, or a foreigner, may pur- 
chase forty acres of the richest soil, and re- 
ceive an indisputable title, for fifty dollars. 

Ranges are townships, counted either east 
or west from meridians. 

Townships are counted either north or south 
from their respective base lines. 

Fractions are parts of quarter sections in- 
tersected by streams, or confirmed claims. 

The parts of townships, sections, quarters, 
&c., made at the lines of either townships or 
meridians, are called excesses or dejiciences. 

Sections^ or square miles, are numbered^ 



PUBLIC LANDS. 



139 



beginning in the north-east corner of the 
township, progressively west, to the range 
line, and then progressively east, to the 
range line, alternately, terminating at the 
south-east corner of the township, from one 
to thirty-six, as in the following diagram: 



6 


5 


4 


3 


o 


I 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


IS 


n 


IG* 


15 


14 


13 


19 


■20 




22 


Q] 


24 


30 


29 


28 


34 


26 


25 


31 


32 


33 


35 


36 



T have been thus particular in this account 
of the surveys of public lands, to exhibit the 
simplicity of a system, that, to strangers, un- 
acquainted with the method of numbering the 
sections, and the various subdivisions, appears 
perplexing and confused. 

All the lands of Congress, owned in Ohio, 
have been surveyed, and, with the excep- 
tion of some Indian reservations, have been 
brought into market. In Indiana, all the 
lands purchased of the Indians have been 
surveyed, and, with the exception of about 
ninety townships and fractional townships, 
have been offered for sale. These, amount- 
ing to about two millions of acres, will be 

* Appropriated for schools in the township. 



140 peck's guide. 

offered for sale the present year. In Michi- 
gan, nearly all the ceded lands have been 
surveyed and brought into market. The un- 
surveyed portion is situated in the neighbor- 
hood of Saginau bay; a part of which may be 
ready for market within the current year. 

In Wisconsin Territory, west of lake Mich- 
igan, all the lands in the Wisconsin district, 
which lie between the State of Illinois and 
the Wisconsin river, have been surveyed ; 
and, in addition to the lands already offered for 
sale in the Green Bay district, about sixty- 
five townships and fractional townships have 
been surveyed, and are ready for market. 
The surveys of the whole country v/est of 
lake Michigan, and south of the Wisconsin 
river, in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory, 
will soon be surveyed and in market. Here 
are many millions of the finest lands on earth, 
lying along the Des Plaines, Fox and Rock 
rivers, and their tributaries, well watered, 
rich soil, a healthy atmosphere, and facilities 
to market. A temporary scarcity of timber 
in some parts of this region will retard settle- 
ments, for a time; but this difficulty will be 
obviated, by the rapidity with which prairie 
land turns to a timbered region, wherever, 
by contiguous settlements, the wild grass be- 
comes subdued, and by the discovery of coal- 
beds. Much of it is a mineral region. In 
Illinois, the surveys are now completed in the 
Danville district, and in the southern part of 
the Chicago district. They are nearly com- 
pleted along Rock river and the Mississippi. 



PUBLIC LANDS. 141 

The unsurveyed portion is along Fox river, 
Des Plaines, and the shore of lake Michigan, 
in the north-eastern part of the State. Emi- 
grants, however, do not wait for surveys and 
sales. They are settling over this fine por- 
tion of the State, in anticipation of purchases. 
In Missouri, besides the former surveys, the 
exterior lines of one hundred and thirty-eight 
townships, and the subdivision into sections and 
quarters, of thirty townships, in the northern 
part of the State, and contracts for running 
the exterior lines of one hundred and eighty- 
nine townships, on the waters of the Osage 
and Grand rivers, have been made. A large 
portion of this State is now surveyed, and in 
market. Surveys are progressing in Arkan- 
sas, and large bodies of land are proclaimed for 
sale, in that district. 

I have no data before me that will enable 
me to show, definitely, the amount of public 
lands now remaining unsold, in each land- 
office district. In another place, I have al- 
ready given an estimate of the amount of 
public lands, within the organized States and 
Territories, remaining unsold, compared with 
the amount sold in past years. 

The following tables exhibit the number of 
acres sold in the districts embraced more im- 
mediately within the range of this Guide, for 
1834, and the three first quarters of 1835, 
with the name of each district in each State. 
It is constructed from the report of the com- 
missioner of the General Land Office to the 
Treasury Department, December 5th, 1835. 



142 



PECK S GUIDE. 



The sales of the last quarter of 1835, in Illi- 
nois, and probably in the other States, great- 
ly exceeded either of the other quarters, and 
which will be exhibited in the annual report 
of the commissioner, in December, 1836. 

Statement of the amount of Public Lands sold 
at the several Land-Offices in Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and 
Arkansas, in 1834. 



District Land 
Offices. 

Ohio 

Marietta, 

Zanesville, . . . . 
Steubenville, . . . 
Chilicothe, . . . . 
Cincinnati, . . . . 

Wooster, 

Wapaghkonetta, 
Bucyrus, 

Total for State, 



Acres and 
hundredths. 

11,999.52 

33,877.23 

4,349.19 

21,309.32 

27,369.52 

9,448.77 

125,417.13 

245,078.56 

478,847.24 



District Land Acres and 

Offices. hundredths. 

Danville, 62,331.38 

Quincy, 36,131.59 

Total for State, 354,013.47 
Michigan. 

Detroit, 136,410.69 

Monroe, 233,768.30 

\VhitePi<;eonPra- 
rie and Bronson, 



128,244.47 



INDIANA. 



Jefferson ville, , 
Vincennes, . , . 
Indianapolis, . . 
Crawfordsville, 
Fort Wayne, . . 
La Porte, .... 



. 67,826.11 

56,765.80 

204,526.63 

161,477.87 

. 96,350,30 

86,709.73 

Total for State, 673,6.56^44 

Illinois. 

Shawneetown, . 6,904.24 

Kaskaskia, .... 15,196.52 

Edwardsville, ..124,302.19 

Vandalia, 20,207.61 

Palestine, 22,135.69 

Springfield, 66,804.25 



Total for Ter., 498,423.46 
Wisconsin. 
Mineral Point, . . . 14,336.67 
Missouri. 

St. Louis, 43,634.68 

Fayette, 71,049.74 

Palmyra, 76,241.35 

Jackson, 18,882.11 

Lexington, 43,983.80 

Total for State, 2537791.70 
Arkansas. 

Batesville, 8,051.31 

.25,799.74 
.65,145.88 
.24,514.94 
. 26,244.59 

149,756.46 



Little Rock, . . 
Washington, . , 
Fayetteville, . . 

Helena, 

Total for Ter. 



PUBLIC LANDS. 



143 



Statement cf the amount of Public Lands sotd 
at the several Land-Offices in Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and 
Arkansas, from Jan. 1st, to SejJt. SOth, 1835, 
including nine months. 



District Land 
Offices. 

Ohio. 

-Marietta, 

Zanesville, .... 
Steubenville, . . . 
Chilicoihe, .... 
Cincinnati, .... 
Wooster, 5,157.68 



Acres and jDistrict Land 
hundredths.! Offico.-:. 



Acres and 
hundredth.*, 



Galena, 1262,152.73 

11,01 2.98 Chicago, 333,405.40 

42^978.36 Total for State, 1,220,838.76 
3,649.29| Michigan. 

12,586.8'; 



20,105.76 



Detroit, 213,763.57 

Bronson, 400,722.48 



v\ oosier, o,to/.o;5 ,, ,,c£.oi £•! 

,Tr u] ^^ -x Monroe, 446,631.61 

Wapaghkonet- ) ,.„ „.^„ I •• 1 

taandLima, r^^'^^"-^^! Total, 1,061,127.66 



Bucyrus, 154,706.63' Wiscojvsin. 

Total for State, 353,217.80>^ineral Point, . . .67,052.55 
INBTANA. jGreenBay, ....68,36.5.53 

JefFersonville, 
Vincennes, . . . 
Indianapolis, . 
Crawfordsviile, 
Fort Wayne, 



Total for Ter., 135,418.08 



. 44,634.81 

. 70,903.621 Missouri. 

.158,786.68 St. Louis, 32,914.57 

.108,055.22'Fayette, 55,839.58 

.148,864.28 Palmyra, 101,018.00 

La Porte, ..... 227,702.35 Jackson, 28,995.19 

Total for State, 758,946.96 1^^^"'?,^"' 42,801.45 

T Spnneneld, .... 320.00 

Illinois. - 

^, , ^ ^^, ^„i Total for State, 261,888.79 

bhawneetown, . 5,754.08 

Kaskaskia, .... 13.814.38 Arkansas. 

Edwardsville, . . 123,638.07 Batesville, 2,021.22 

Vandalia, 16,253.46 Little Rock, 22,291.92 

Palestine, 14,088.01 Washington, 43,360.81 

Springfield, 316,966.70 Fayetteville, 8,723.72 

Danville, 94,491.35 Helena, 312,169.09 

Quincy, *40,274.58 Total for State, 388,566.76 

* Return* only to May 31. f Returns only to July 31. 

?=ince those periods, the sales at these offices have been immense. 



144 peck's guide. 

The reader will perceive that the sales of 
the first three quarters of 1835 almost 
doubled those of the whole year of 1834. The 
inquiry was often made of the writer, while 
traveling in the Atlantic States in the summer 
of 1835, whether there was still opportunity 
for emigrants to purchase public lands in In- 
diana, Illinois, &c., where land-offices had 
been opened for the sale of lands many years. 
He found, almost every where, wrong notions 
prevailing. The people were not aware of 
the immense extent of the public domain now 
in market, and ready to be sold at one dollar 
and txvenhj-five cents per acre, and even in as 
small tracts as forty acres. Take, for exam- 
ple, the Edwardsville district, in which the 
writer resides. It extends south to the base 
line, east to the third principal meridian, 
north to the line that separates townships 13 
and 14 north, and west to the Illinois and 
Mississippi rivers, and embraces all the 
counties of Madison, Clinton, Bond, Mont- 
gomery, Macoupen, and Greene, a tier of 
townships on the south side of Morgan and 
Sangamon, five and a half townships from 
Fayette, and about half of St. Clair county. 
The lands for a part of this district have been 
in market for eighteen or twenty years. It 
contains some of the oldest American settle- 
ments in the State, and has also a number of 
confirmed claims never offered for sale. And 
yet the receiver of this office informed me, in 
November last, that he had just made returns 



PUBLIC LANDS. 145 

of all the lands sold in this district, and they 
amounted to just one third of the whole quan- 
tity. Every man, therefore, may take it for 
granted that there will be land enough in 
market in all the new States, for his use, 
during the present generation. These are 
facts that should be known to all classes. 
The mania of land speculation and of monop- 
olists would soon subside, were those concern- 
ed to sit down coolly, and, after ascertaining 
the amount of public lands now in market, 
with the vast additional quantity that must soon 
come into market, use a few figures in com- 
mon arithmetic, with the probable amount of 
emigration, and ascertain the probable extent 
of the demand for this article at any future 
period. 

The following information is necessary for 
those who are not acquainted with our land 
system. 

In each land-office there are a register and 
receiver, appointed by the president and sen- 
ate for the term of four years, and paid by 
the government. 

After being surveyed, the land, by procla- 
mation of the president, is offered for sale at 
public auction by half quarter sections, or 
tracts of eighty acres. If no one bids for it at 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, or 
more, it is subject to private entry at any 
time after, upon payment of ^1 25 cents per 
acre at the time of entry. JN'o credit, in any 
case, is alloiced. 



146 peck's guide. 

In many cases, Congress, by special stat- 
ute, has granted to actual settlers, preemp- 
tion rights, where settlements and improve- 
ments have been made on public lands pre- 
vious to public sale. 

Preemption rights confer the privilege only 
of purchasing the tract containing improve- 
ments at one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
acre, by the possessor, without the risk of a 
public sale. 

In Illinois, and several other Western 
States, all lands purchased of the general 
government, are exempted from taxation for 
five years after purchase. 

Militarij Bounty Lands. These lands were 
surveyed and appropriated as bounties to the 
soldiers in the war with Great Britain in 
1812 — '15, to encourage enlistments. The 
selections were made in Illinois, Missouri, 
and Arkansas. The bounty lands of Illinois 
lie between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, 
in the counties of Calhoun, Pike, Adams, 
Schuyler, Macdonough, Warren, Mercer, 
Knox, Henry, Fulton, Peoria, and Putman. 
Out of 5,000,000 of acres, 3,500,000 were 
selected, including about three fifths of this 
tract. The remainder is disposed of in the 
manner of other public lands. The disposi- 
tion of this fine country for military bounties 
has much retarded its settlement. It was a 
short-sighted and mistaken policy of govern- 
ment that dictated this measure. Most of the 
titles have long since departed from the 



PUBLIC LANDS. 147 

soldiers for whose benefit the donations were 
made. Many thousand quarter sections have 
been sold for taxes by the State, have fallen 
into the hands of monopolists, and are now 
past redemption. The bounty lands in Mis- 
souri lie on the waters of Chariton and 
Grand rivers, north side of the Missouri river, 
and in the counties of Chariton, Randolph, 
Carrol], and Ray, and include half a million 
of acres. The tract is generally fertile, 
undulating, a mixture of timber and prairie, 
but not as well watered as desirable. With 
the bounty lands of Arkansas I am not well 
acquainted. Their general character is good, 
and some tracts are rich cotton lands. 

Taxes. Lands bought of the United States 
government are exempted from taxation for five 
years after sale. All other lands owned by 
non-residents, equally with those of residents, 
are subject to taxation annually, either for 
state, or county purposes, or both. The 
mode and amount varies in each State. If not 
paid when due, costs are added, the lands 
sold, subject to redemption within a limited 
period, — generally two years. Every non- 
resident landholder should employ an agent 
within the State where his land lies, to look 
after it, and pay his taxes, if he would not 
suffer the loss of his land. 



CHAPTER VI 



ABORIGINES. 

Conjecture respecting their former Numbers and Condition 
— Present Number and State — Indian Territory appro- 
priated as their permanent Residence — Plan and Opera- 
tions of the United States Government — Missionary Ef- 
forts and Stations — Monuments and Antiquities. 

The idea is entertained, that the Valley of 
the Mississippi was once densely populated by 
aborigines, — that here were extensive nations, 
— that the bones of many millions lie moulder- 
ing under our feet. It has become a common 
theory, that, previous to the settlement of the 
country by people of European descent, there 
were two successive races of men, quite dis- 
tinct from each other; — that the first race, by 
some singular fatality, became exterminated, 
leaving no traditionary account of their exist- 
ence; and the second race, the ancestors of 
the existing race of Indians, are supposed to 
have been once far more numerous than the 
present white population of the Valley. 

Some parts of Mexico and South America 



ABORIGINES. 149 

were found to be populous upon the first visits 
of the Spaniards, but I do not find satisfactory 
evidence that the population was ever dense 
in any part of the territory that now constitutes 
our Republic. Mr. Atwater supposes, from 
the mounds in Ohio, the Indian population far 
exceeded seven hundred thousand, at one time, 
in that district. Mr. Flint says, "If we can 
infer nothing else from the mounds, we can 
clearly infer, that this country once had its 
millions." Hence, a principal argument as- 
signed for the populousness of this country is, 
the millions buried in these tumuli, the bones 
of which, in a tolerable state of preservation, 
are supposed to be exhibited upon excavation. 
The writer has witnessed the opening of many 
of these mounds, and has seen the fragments 
of an occasional skeleton, found near the sur- 
face. Without stopping here to enter upon a 
disquisition on the hypothesis assumed, — that 
these mounds, as they are termed, are as much 
the results of natural causes, as any other 
prominences on the surface of the globe, — I 
will only remark, that it is a fact well known 
to frontier men, that the Indians have been in 
the habit of burying their dead in these ridges 
and hillocks, and that, in our light, spongy soil, 
the skeleton decays surprisingly fast. This is 
not the place to exhibit the necessary data, that 
have led to the conviction, that not a human 
skeleton now exists in all the Western Valley 
(excepting in nitrous caves), that was deposi- 
ted in the earth before the discovery of the 
new world by Columbus. 



150 peck's guide. 

The opinion, that this Valley was once 
densely populous, is sustained, from the sup- 
posed military works, distributed through the 
West. This subject, as well as that of mounds, 
wants reexamination. Probably, half a dozen 
enclosures, in a rude form, might have been 
used for military defence. The capabilities of 
the country to sustain a dense population, has 
been used to support the position, that it must 
have been once densely populated. This ar- 
gues nothing without vestiges of agriculture 
and the arts. With the exception of a few small 
patches round the Indian villages, for corn and 
pulse, the whole land was an unbroken wilder- 
ness. Strangers to the subject have imagined 
that our western prairies must once have been 
subdued by the hand of culitvation, because 
denuded of timber. Those who have long 
lived on them, have the evidences of observa- 
tion and their senses to guide them. They 
know, that the earth will not produce timber 
while the surface is covered with a firm grassy 
sward, and that timber will spring up, as soon 
as this obstruction is removed. 

To all these theories, of the former density 
of the aboriginal population of the Valley, I 
oppose, first, the fact that but a scattered and 
erratic population was found here, on the ar- 
rival of the Europeans; that the people were 
rude savages, subsisting chiefly by hunting, 
and that no savage people ever became popu- 
lous; that, from time immemorial, the differ- 
ent tribes had been continually at war with 



ABORIGINES. 151 

each other; that, but a few years before the 
French explored it, the Iroquois, or Five Na- 
tions, conquered all the country to the Mis- 
sissippi, which they could not have done had 
it been populous ; and that Kentucky, one of the 
finest portions of the Valley, was not inhabited 
by any people, but was the common hunting 
and fighting grounds of both the northern and 
southern Indians, and hence called by them 
Kentuckee, or the "bloody ground."* 

That the Indian character has deteriorated, 
and the numbers of each tribe greatly lessened 
by contact with Europeans and their descend- 
ants, is not questioned; but many of the de- 
scriptions of the comforts and happiness of 
savage life and manners, before their country 
vras possessed by the latter, are the exagger- 
ated and glowing descriptions of poetic fancy. 
Evidence enough can be had to show that they 
were degraded and wretched, engaged in pet- 
ty exterminating v/ars with each other, olten- 
times in a state of starvation, and leading a 
roving, indolent, and miserable existence. 
Their government was anarchy. Properly 
speaking, civil government had never existed 
amongst them. They had no executive, or 

* See Pownal's Administration of the British Colonies: 
Colden's History of the Five Nations; New York Histori- 
cal Collections, vol. II; Charlevoix Histoire de la Nouvelle 
France; Hon. De Witt Clinton's Discourse before the New 
York Historical Society, 1811; Discovery of the Mississip- 
pi river, by Father Lewis Hennepin; M. Tonti's Account 
of M. De La Salle's Expedition; La Harpe's Journal, &c. 



152 peck's guide. 

judiciary power, and their legislation was the 
result of their councils, held by aged and ex- 
perienced men. It had no stronger claim upon 
the obedience of the people than advice. 

In Mexico, civilization had made progress, 
and there were populous towns and cities, 
and edifices for religious and other purposes. 
With the exception of some very rude struc- 
tures, the ruins of which yet remain, and 
which, upon too slight grounds, have been 
mistaken for military works, nothing is left as 
marks of the enterprise of the feeble bands 
of Indians of this Valley. Their implements, 
utensils, weapons of war, and water-craft, 
were of the most rude and simple construction, 
and yet prepared with great labor. Those 
who have written upon Indian manners, with- 
out personal and long acquaintance Avith their 
circumstances, have made extravagant blun- 
ders. The historian of America, Dr. Robert- 
son, seems to suppose that the Indians cut 
down large trees and dug out canoes, with 
stone hatchets; and that they cleared the 
timber from their small fields, by the same 
tedious process. Their stone axes or hatch- 
ets were never used for cutiing, but only for 
splitting and pounding. They burned down 
and hollowed out trees, by fire, for canoes; 
and never chopped off the timber, but only 
deadened it, in clearing land. The condition 
of depraved man, unimproved by habits of 
civilization, and unblest with the influences 
and consolations of the gospel, is pitiable in 



ABORIGINES. 153 

the extreme. Such was the character and 
condition of the " red skin," before his land 
was visited by the "palefaces." I have often 
seen the aboriginal man in all his primeval 
wildness, when he first came in contact with 
the evils and benefits of civilization, — have 
admired his noble form and lofty bearing, — 
listened to his untutored and yet powerful 
eloquence, and yet have found in him the 
same humbling and melancholy proofs of his 
wretchedness and want, as is found in the 
remnants on our borders. 

The introduction of ardent spirits, and of 
several diseases, are the evils furnished the 
Indian race, by contact with the whites, while 
in other respects their condition has been im- 
proved. 

From the second number of the Annual 
Register of Indian Affairs, wiihin the Indian 
(or Wester-n) Territory, just published by the 
Rev. Isaac McCoy, the following particulars 
have been chiefly gleaned. 

Mr. McCoy has been devoted to the work 
of Indian reform for almost twenty years; first 
in Indiana, then in Michigan, and latterly in 
the Indian Territory, west of Missouri and 
Arkansas. He is not only intimately ac- 
quainted with the peculiar circumstances of 
this unfortunate race, and with the country 
selected as their future residence by the gov- 
ernment, but is ardently and laboriously en- - 
gaged for their welfare. 
7# 



154 peck's guide. 

Indian Territory. 

The Indian Territory lies west, and imme- 
diately adjacent to Missouri and Arkansas. 
It is about six hundred miles long, from north 
to south, extending from the Missouri river to 
the Red river, and running westwardly as far 
as the country is habitable, which is estimated 
to be about two hundred miles. The almost 
destitution of timber, with extensive deserts- 
renders most of the country, from this Terri- 
tory to the Rocky mountains, uninhabitable. 
The dreams indulged by many, that the wave 
of white population is to move onward, without 
any resisting barrier, till it reaches these 
mountains, and even overleap them, to the 
Pacific ocean, will never be realized. Provi- 
dence has thrown a desert of several hundred 
miles in extent, as an opposing barrier. 

As very contradictory accounts have gone 
abroad, prejudicial to the character of the 
country selected for the Indians, it becomes 
necessary to describe it with some particu- 
larity. The following, from Mr. McCoy (if 
it needed any additional support to its cor- 
rectness), is corroborated by the statements 
of many disinterested persons. 

"There is a striking similarity between all 
parts of this Territory. In its general char- 
acter, it is high and undulating, rather level 
than hilly; though small portions partly de- 
serve the latter appellation. The soil is gen- 



ABORIGINES. 155 

erally very fertile. It is thought that in no 
part of the world, so extensive a region of 
rich soil has been discovered, as in this, of 
which the Indian Territory is a central posi- 
tion. It is watered by numerous rivers, creeks 
and rivulets. Its waters pass through it east- 
wardly, none of which are fiivorable to navi- 
gation. There is less marshy and stagnant 
water in it than is usual in the western coun- 
try. The atmosphere is salubrious, and the 
climate precisely such as is desirable, being 
about the same as that inhabited by the 
Indians on the east of the Mississippi. It 
contains much mineral coal and salt water, 
some lead, and some iron ore. Timber is 
scarce, and this is a serious defect, but one 
which time will remedy, as has been demon- 
strated by the grovvth of timber in prairie 
countries which have been settled, where the 
grazing of stock, by diminishing the quantity 
of grass, renders the annual fires less de- 
structive to the growth of wood. The prairie 
(i. e., land destitute of wood) is covered with 
grass, much of which is of suitable length for 
the scythe." 

The Chodaws, Creeks, Cherokees, Osages, 
Kauscms, and Delawares, are entitled to 
lands westward of this Territory, for hunting- 
grounds; some to the western boundary of 
the United States, others to the Rocky moun- 
tains. 

Mr. McCoy estimates the number of inhabi- 
tants of this Territory at 47,733, viz.: 



156 peck's guide. 

Indigenous Tribes. 

Osage, about 5,510 

Kausan, " 1,684 

Ottoe and Missourias, 1,600 

O'Mahaus, 1,400 

Pawnees, (four tribes), 10,000 

Puncahs, about 800 

Quapaws, " 450 

21,444 

Emigrant Tribes. 

Choctaw, about 15,000 

Cherokee, " 4,000 

Creek, " 3,600 

Seneca, Shawanoe of Neosho, 462 

Wea, about 225 

Piankeshau, 119 

Peoria and Kaskaskias, 135 

Ottawa, 81 

Shawanoe, of Kausau river, 764 

Delaware, 856 

Kickapoo, 603 

Putawatomie, 444 

Emigrants, 26,289 

Indigenous, 21,444 

Total, 47,733 

The estimate of the Choctaws includes 
about four hundred negro slaves; that of the 
Cherokees, five hundred; and that of the 
Creeks about four hundred and fifty slaves. 

Choctaws. Their country adjoins Red river 
and the Province of Texas, on the south, Ar- 
kansas on the east, and extends north to the 
Arkansas and Canadian rivers; being one hun- 



ABORIGINES. 157 

dred and fifty miles from north to south, and 
two hundred miles from east to west. Here 
are numerous salt springs. For civil purposes, 
their country is divided into three districts. 

Cherolees. The boundaries of their country 
commences on the Arkansas river, opposite 
the western boundary of Arkansas; thence 
northwardly along the line of Missouri, eight 
miles to Seneca river; thence west to the Ne- 
osho river; thence up said river to the Osage 
lands; thence west indefinitely, as far as hab- 
itable; thence south to the Creek lands, and 
along the eastern line of the Creeks to a point 
forty-three miles west of Arkansas, and twen- 
ty-five miles north of Arkansas river; thence 
to the Verdigris river, and down Arkansas 
river, to the mouth of the Neosho; thence 
southwardly to the junction of the North Fork 
and Canadian rivers; and thence down the 
Canadian and Arkansas rivers to the place of 
beginning. The treaty of 1828 secures to 
this tribe 7,000,000 of acres, and adds land 
westward, for hunting-grounds, as far as the 
United States boundaries extend. 

The Creeks or Muscogees, occupy the coun- 
try west of Arkansas, that lies between the 
lands of the Choctaws and Cherokees. 

The Senecas join the State of Missouri on 
the east, with the Cherokees south, the Neo- 
sho river west, and possess 127,500 acres. 

The Osage (a French corruption of Wos- 
sosh-e their proper name) have their country 
north of the western portion of the Cherokee 



158 peck's guide. 

lands, commencing twenty-five miles west of 
the State of Missouri, with a width of fifty 
miles, and extending indefinitely west. About 
half the tribe are in the Cherokee country. 

The Qiiapmvs were originally connected 
with the Osages. They have migrated from 
the Lower Arkansas, and have their lands 
adjoining the State of Missouri, immediately 
north of the Senecas. 

The Putawatomies are on the north-eastern 
side of the Missouri river, but they are not 
satisfied, and the question of their locality is 
not fully settled. Four hundred and forty-four 
Putawatomies are mingled with the Kickapoos, 
on the south-west side of the Missouri river. 

The Weas, Piankeskaus, Peoricis and Kas- 
kaskias are remnants of the great western 
confederacy, of which the Miamies were the 
most prominent branch. These and other 
tribes, constituted the Illini, Oillinois, or Illi- 
nois nation, that once possessed the country 
now included in the great States of Indiana, 
Illinois, &c. Their lands lie west of the State 
of Missouri, and south-west of the Missouri 
river. 

The Delmvares occupy a portion of the 
country in the forks of the Kausau (or, as writ- 
ten by the French, Kansas) river. They are 
the remnants of another great confederacy, the 
Lenni-Lenojyi, as denominated by themselves. 

The lands of the Kickcqyoos lie north of the 
Delawares, and along the Missouri, including 
768,000 acres. 



ABORIGINES. 159 

The Ottoes occupy a tract of country be- 
tween the Missouri and Platte rivers, but 
their land is said to extend south and below 
the Platte. 

The country of the O'Mahaus has the Platte 
river on the south, and the Missouri north-east. 

The country of the Pawnees lies to the west- 
ward of the Ottoes and O'Mahaus, The boun- 
daries are not defined. 

The Puncahs are a small tribe that origina- 
ted from the Pawnees, and live in the northern 
extremity of the country spoken of as the In- 
dian Territory. 

Present Condition. The Choctaws, Chero- 
kees and Creeks are more advanced in civil- 
ized habits than any other tribes. They have 
organized local governments of their own, 
have enacted some wholesome laws, live in 
comfortable houses, raise horses, cattle, sheep 
and swine, cultivate the ground, have good 
fences, dress like Americans, and manufac- 
ture much of their own clothing. They have 
schools and religious privileges, by missionary 
efforts, to a limited extent. The Cherokees 
have a written language, perfect in its form, 
the invention of Mr. Guess, a full-blooded In- 
dian. The Senecas, Delawares, and Shawa- 
noes, also, are partially civilized, and live with 
considerable comfort from the produce of their 
fields and stock. The Putawatomies, Weas, 
Piankeshaus, Peorias, Kaskaskias, Ottawas, 
and Kickapoos, have partially adopted civil- 
ized customs. Some live in comfortable log 



160 peck's guide. 

cabins, fence and cultivate the ground, and 
have a supply of stock: others live in bark 
huts, and are wretched. The Osages, or 
Wos-sosh-es, Quapaws, Kausaus, Ottoes, O'- 
Mahaus, Pawnees and Puncahs have made 
much less improvement in their mode of living. 
A few have adopted civilized habits, and are 
rising in the scale of social and individual com- 
forts, but the larger portion are yet Indians. 

Mr. McCoy estimates the whole number of 
aborigines in North America, including those 
of Mexico, at 1,800,000; of which, 10,000 are 
so far improved as to be classed with civilized 
men, and amongst whom there are as many 
pious Christians, as amongst the same amount 
of population in the United States. In addi- 
tion to these, he estimates that there may be 
about 60,000 more, " which may have made 
advances toward civilization, some more and 
some less." 

For some years past, the policy of the gov- 
ernment of the United States has been direct- 
ed to the project of removing all the Indians 
from the country organized into States and 
Territories, and placing them sufficiently con- 
tiguous to be easily governed, and yet remov- 
ed from direct contact and future interruption 
from the white population. This project was 
recommended in the period of Mr. Monroe's 
administration; was further considered, and 
some progress made, under that of Mr. Adams; 
but has been carried into more successful ex- 
ecution within the last five years. It is much 



PUELIC LANDS. 161 

to be regretted that this project was not com- 
menced earlier. The residence of small bands 
of Indians, with their own feeble and imperfect 
government, carried on within any organized 
State or Territory, is ruinous. Those who 
argue that because of the removal of the In- 
dians from within the jurisdiction of the States, 
or an organized Territory, therefore they will 
be driven back 11 om the country in which it is 
now proposed to place them, evince but a very 
partial and imperfect view of the subject. The 
present operation of government is an experi- 
ment; and it is one that ought to receive a fair 
and full trial. If it does not succeed, I know 
not of any governmental regulation that can 
result, with success, to the prosperity of the 
Indians. The project is to secure to each 
tribe, by patent, the lands allotted them; to 
form them into a territorial government, with 
some features of the representative principle; 
to have their whole country under the super- 
vision of our government, as their guardian, 
for their benefit; to allow no white men to 
pass the lines and intermix with the Indians, 
except those who are licensed by due authori- 
ty; to aid them in adopting civilized habits, 
provide for them schools and other means of 
improving their condition, and, through the 
agency of missionary societies, to instruct 
them in the principles of the gospel of Christ. 
Missionary Efforts and Stations. These are 
conducted by the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions; the Baptist 
8 



162 



PECK S GUIDE. 



Board of Foreign Missions; the Methodist 
Episcopal Missionary Society; the Western 
Foreign Missionary Society; and the Cum- 
berland Presbyterians. Stations have been 
formed, and schools established, with most of 
these tribes. About 2500 are members of 
Christian churches, of different denomina- 
tions. The particulars of these operations 
are to be found in the reports of the respect- 
ive societies, and the various religious pe- 
riodicals. 

Of other tribes within the Valley of the 
Mississippi, and not yei within the Indian 
Territory, the following estimate is sufficient- 
ly near the truth for practical purposes: — 

Indians from New York, about Green Bay,. . 725 

Wyandots, in Ohio and Michigan, 623 

Miamies, 1,200 

Winnebagoes, 4,591 

Cliippeways, or O^Jibbeways, 6,793 

Ottawas and Chippeways, of lake Michigan,. , 5,300 

Chlppeways, Ottawas and Putawatomies, . . . . 8,000 

Putawatoniies, 1,400 

Menominees, 4,200 

They are all east of the Mississippi, and 
chiefly found on the reservations in Ohio, In- 
diana and Michigan, and in the country be- 
tween the Wisconsin river and lake Superior. 
Those tribes west of the Mississippi river, and 
along the region of the Upper Missouri river, 
are as follows: — 

Sioux, 27,500 

loways, 1,200 

Sauks, of Missouri, 500 



rUBLIC LANDS. 163 

Sauks and Foxes, 6,400 

Assinaboines, 8,000 

Crees, , 3,000 

Gros Ventres, 3,000 

Aurekaras, 3,000 

Cheyennes, 2,000 

Mandans, 1,500 

Black Feet, 30,000 

Camanches, 7,000 

Minatarees, , 1 ,500 

Crows, 4,500 

Arrepahas and Kiawas, 1,400 

Caddoes, 800 

Snake, and other tribe?:, within the Rocky 

mountains, 20,000 

West of the Rocky mountains, 80,000 

The Camanches, Arrepahas, Kiawas and 
Caddoes roam over the great plains, toward 
the sources ot" the Arkansas and Red rivers, 
and through the northern parts of Texas. 
The Black Feet are toward the heads of the 
Missouri. 

Mjmiments and Jlntiqiiliies. Before dismiss- 
ing the subject of the aborigines, I shall touch 
very briefly on the monuments and antiquities 
of the West; with strong convictions that 
there has been much exaggeration on this 
subject. I have already intimated that the 
mounds of the West are natural formations, 
but I have not room for the circumstances 
and facts that go to sustain this theory. The 
number of objects considered as antiquities 
is greatly exaggerated. The imaginations 
of men have done much. The number of 
mounds on the American bottom, in Illinois, 



164 peck's guide. 

adjacent to Cahokia creek, is stated by Mr, 
Flint at two hundred. The writer has count- 
ed all the elevations of surface for the extent 
of nine miles, and they amount to seventy-two. 
One of these, Monk hill, is much too large, 
and three fourths of the rest are quite too 
small for human labor. The pigmy graves on 
the Merrimeek, (Missouri,) in Tennessee, and 
other places, upon closer inspection, have 
been found to contain decayed skeletons of 
the ordinary size, but buried with the leg and 
thigh bones in contact. The giant skeletons 
sometimes found, are the bones of buffalo. 

It is much easier for waggish laborers to de- 
posit old horse-shoes, and other iron articles, 
where they are at work, for the special pleas- 
ure of digging them up for credulous antiqua- 
rians, than to find proofs of the existence of 
the horses that wore them! 

There may, or may not be, monuments and 
antiquities that belong to a race of men of prior 
existence to the present race of Indians. All 
that the writer urges is, that this subject may 
not be considered as settled; that due allow- 
ance may be made for the extreme credulity 
of some, and the want of personal observation 
and examination of other writers on this sub- 
ject. Gross errors have been committed, and 
exaggerations of very trivial circumstances 
have been made. 

The antiquities belonging to the Indian race 
are neither numerous or interesting, unless 
we except the remains of rude edifices and 



PUBLIC LANDS. 165 

enclosures, the walls of which are almost in- 
variably embankments of earth. They are 
rude axes and knives of stone, bottles and 
vessels of potter's ware, arrow and spear 
heads, rude ornaments, &c. 

Roman, French, Italian, German and Eng- 
lish coins and medals, with inscriptions, have 
been found; most unquestionably brought by 
Europeans; probably by the Jesuits, and other 
orders, who were amongst the first explorers 
of the West, and who had their religious 
houses here, more than a century past. 

Copper and silver ornaments have been dis- 
covered in the mounds that have been opened. 
The calumet, or large stone pipe, is often 
found in Indian graves. Three facts deserve 
to be regarded by those who examine mounds 
and Indian cemeteries. 1. That the Indians 
have been accustomed to bury their dead in 
these mounds. 2. That they were accustom- 
ed to place various ornaments, utensils, wea- 
pons, and other articles of value, the property 
of the deceased, in these graves, especially if 
a chieftain, or man of note. A third fact, 
known to our frontier people, is the custom of 
several Indian tribes wrapping their dead in 
strips of bark, or encasing them with the 
halves of a hollow log, and placing them in 
the forks of trees. This was the case espe- 
cially when their deaths occurred while on 
hunting or war parties. At stated seasons, 
these relics were collected, with much solem- 
nity, brought to the common sepulchre of the 



166 peck's guide. 

tribe, and deposited with their ancestors. This 
accounts for the confused manner in which the 
bones are often found in mounds and Indian 
grave-yards. Human skeletons, or rather 
mummies, have been discovered in the nitrous 
caves of Kentucky. The huge bones of the 
mammoth and other enormous animals, have 
been exhumed at the Bigbone licks, in Ken- 
tucky, and in other places. 



CHAPTER VII. 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Face of the Country — Soil, Agriculture and internal Im- 
provements — Chief Towns — Pittsburgh — Coal. 

The portion of Pennsylvania lying west of 
the Alleghany ridge, contains the counties of 
Washington, Greene, Fayette, Westmore- 
land, Alleghany, Beaver, Butler, Armstrong, 
Mercer, Venango, Crawford, Erie, Warren, 
McKean, Jefferson, Indiana, Somerset, and a 
part of Cambria. 

Face of the Country. Somerset, and parts 
of Fayette, Westmoreland, Cambria, Indiana, 
Jefferson and McKean are mountainous, with 
intervening vallies of rifh, arable land. The 
hilly portions of Washington, and portions of 
Fayette, Westmoreland, and Alleghany coun- 
ties are fertile, with narrow vales of rich land 
intervening. The hills are of various shapes, 
and heights, and the ridges are not uniform, 
but pursue various and different directions. 
North of Pittsburgh, the country is hilly and 



168 peck's guide. 

broken, but not moiintainous, and the bottom 
lands on the water courses are wider and more 
fertile. On French creek, and other branches 
of the Alleghany river there are extensive 
tracts of rich bottom, or intervale lands, cov- 
ered with beech, birch, sugar maple, pine, 
hemlock, and other trees common to that por- 
tion of the United States. The pine forests 
ill Pennsylvania and New York, about the 
heads of the Alleghany river, produce vast 
quantities of lumber, which are sent annually 
to all the towns along the Ohio and Mississip- 
pi rivers. It is computed that not less than 
thirty million feet of lumber are annually 
sent down the Ohio from this source. 

Soil, Agriculture, ^c. Portions of the 
country are excellent for farming. The glade 
lands, as they are called, in Greene and other 
counties, produce oats, grass, &c., but are 
not so good for wheat and corn. Those 
counties which lie tow9.rds lake Erie are bet- 
ter adapted to grazing. Great numbers of 
cattle are raised here. Washington and 
other counties south of Pittsburgh produce 
great quantities of wool. The Monongahela 
has been famous for its whisky, but it is 
gratifying to learn that it is greatly on the 
decline, and that its manufacture begins to be 
regarded as it should be, — ruinous to society. 
A large proportion of the distilleries are re- 
ported to have been abandoned. Bituminous 
coal abounds in all the hills around Pittsburgh, 
and over most parts of Western Pennsyl- 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 169 

vania. Iron ore is found abundantly in the 
counties along the Alleghany, and many fur- 
naces and forges are employed in its manu- 
factory. Salt springs abound on the Allegha- 
ny, and especially on the Conemaugh and 
Kiskiminitas, where salt, in large quantities, 
is manufactured. 

The natural advantages of Western Penn- 
sylvania are great. Almost every knoll, hill 
and mountain can be turned to some good ac- 
count, and its rivers, canals, rail and turnpike 
roads afford facilities for intercommunication, 
and for transportation of the productions to a 
foreign market. The advantages of this re- 
gion for trade, agriculture, raising stock, and 
manufacturing, are great. The streams fur- 
nish abundant mill-seats, the air is salubrious, 
and the morals of the community good. Till 
recently, Pennsylvania has been neglectful to 
provide for common schools. A school sys- 
tem is now in successful operation, and has a 
strong hold on the confidence and affections 
of the people in this part of the State. 

Internal Lnjyrovements. Pennsylvania has 
undertaken an immense system of internal 
improvements, throughout the State. The 
Alleghany portage rail-road commences at 
Hollidaysburgh, on the Juniata river, at the 
termination of the eastern division of the 
great Pennsylvania canal, and crosses the 
Alleghany ridge at Blair's Gap, summit thirty- 
seven miles, to Johnstown on the Conemaugh. 
Here it connects with the western division of 



no peck's guide. 

the same canal. It ascends and descends the 
mountain by five inclined planes on each side, 
overcoming in ascent and descent 2570 i'eet, 
1398 of which are on the eastern, and 1172 
on the western side of the mountain. Five 
hundred and sixty-three feet are overcome 
by grading, and 2007 feet by the planes. On 
this line, also, are four extensive viaducts, 
and a tunnel eight hundred and seventy feet 
long, and twenty feet wide, through the sta- 
ple bend of the Conemaugh river. The west- 
ern division of the Pennsylvania canal com- 
mences at Johnstown, on the Conemaugh, 
pursues the course of that stream, and also 
that of the Kiskiminitas and Alleghany rivers, 
and finally terminates at Pittsburgh. In its 
course from Johnstown, it passes through the 
towns of Fairfield, Lockport, Blairsville, 
Saltzburg, Warren, Leechburg, and Freeport, 
most of which are small villages, but increas- 
ing in size and business. "The canal is 
one hundred and four miles in length: lockage 
four hundred and seventy-one feet, sixty-four 
locks (exclusive of four on a branch canal to 
the Alleghany), ten dams, one tunnel, sixteen 
aqueducts, sixty-four culverts, thirty-nine 
wasle-wiers, and one hundred and fifty-two 
bridges. 

" The canal commissioners, in their reports 
to the legislature, strongly recommend the 
extension of this division to the town of 
Beaver, so as to unite with the Beaver divi- 
sion. By a recent survey, the distance was 



WESTERN PENiNSYLVANIA. 171 

ascertained to be 25.065 miles, and the esti- 
mated cost of construction, $263,821. This, 
with a proposed canal from Newcastle to Ak- 
ron, on the Ohio and Erie canal, will form a 
continuous inland communication between 
Philadelphia and New Orleans, of 2435 miles, 
with the exception of the passage over the 
Alleghany portage rail-road, of 36.69 miles 
in length.* It is three hundred and ninety-five 
miles from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh by this 
canal. 

The Beaver division of the Pennsylvania 
canal commences at the town of Beaver, on 
the Ohio river, at the junction of the Big 
Beaver river, twenty-five and a half miles 
below Pittsburgh, ascends the valley of that 
river, thence up the Chenango creek to its 
termination in Mercer county, a distance of 
42.68 miles. This work, together with 
a feeder on French creek, and other works 
now in progress, are parts of a canal intend- 
ed eventually to connect the Ohio river with 
lake Erie, at the town of Erie; which, when fin- 
ished, will probably be about one hundred and 
thirty miles in length. It is also proposed to 
construct a canal from Newcastle, on the Bea- 
ver division, 24.75 miles above the town of 
Beaver, along the valley of the Mahoning riv- 
er, to Akron, near the portage summit of the 

*See " Mitchell's Compendium of the Internal Improve- 
ments in the United States," where much valuable infor- 
mation of the rail-roads and canals of the United States is 
found in a small space. 



172 peck's guide. 

Ohio and Erie canal, eighty-five miles in 
length, eight miles of which are in Pennsyl- 
vania, and the residue in Ohio. Estimated 
cost, $764,372. 

The Cumberland, or national road, crosses 
the south-western part of Pennsylvania. It 
passes through Brownsville where it crosses 
the Monongahela river, and Washington, into 
a corner of Virginia to Wheeling, where it 
crosses the Ohio river, and from thence 
through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the 
Mississippi river, or perhaps to the western 
boundary of Missouri. 

Chief Towns. Brownsville, situated on the 
east side of the Monongahela river, is in a ro- 
mantic country, surrounded with rich farms 
and fine orchards, and contains about 1200 
inhabitants. It is at the head of steamboat 
navigation. Washington is the county seat of 
Washington county, surrounded with a fertile 
but hilly country, contains about 2000 inhab- 
itants, and has a respectable college. Can- 
nonsbiirgh is situated on the west side of Char- 
tier's creek, eight miles north of Washington. 
It also has a flourishing college, with build- 
ings, in an elevated and pleasant situation. 
Uniontown is the county seat of Fayette, on 
the National road, and contains about 1500 
inhabitants. Gi^eensburg is the seat of justice 
for Westmoreland county, on the great 
turnpike road from Philadelphia by Harris- 
burgh to Pittsburgh, and has about 850 
inhabitants. Beaver is situated at the 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 173 

mouth of Big Beaver, on the Ohio, with a 
population of 1000 or 1200, and is a place of 
considerable business. Meadville is the seat 
of justice for Crawford county, situated near 
French creek, and has about 1200 inhabitants. 
Here is a college established by the Rev. 
Mr. Alden, some years since, to which the 
late Dr. Bentley, of Salem, Mass., bequeathed 
a valuable library. It is now under the 
patronage of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Erie is a thriving town, situated on the 
south side of lake Erie, one hundred and 
twenty miles north of Pittsburgh. Steam-boats 
that pass up the lake from Buffalo, usually stop 
here, from whence stage routes communicate 
with Pittsburgh, and many other towns in the 
interior. The portage from this place to the 
navigable waters of the Alleghany river is 
fifteen miles, over a turnpike road. The 
population of Erie is from 1500 to 2000, and 
increasing. 

Walerford, the place where the Erie por- 
tage terminates, is situated on the north bank 
of the French creek; it is a place of consid- 
erable business. French creek is a navigable 
branch of the Alleghany river. Franklin, 
Kiltanning and Freeport are respectable 
towns on the Alleghany river, between Pitts- 
burgh and Meadville. 

Econonuj is the seat of the German colony, 
under the late Mr. Rapp, which emigrated 
from their former residence of Harmony, on 
the Wabash river, in Indiana. It is a flour- 



174 peck's guide. 

ishing town on the right bank of the Ohio, 
eighteen miles below Pittsburgh. It has sev- 
eral factories, a large church, a spacious hotel, 
and eight or nine hundred inhabitants, living 
in a community form, under some singular 
regulations. The Economists or Harmonists, 
as they were called, in Indiana, are an indus- 
trious, moral and enterprising community, with 
some peculiarities in their religious notions. 
There are many other towns and villages in 
Western Pennsylvania, of moral, industrious 
inhabitants, which the limits of this work will 
not permit me to notice. 

Pittsburgh is the emporium of Western 
Pennsylvania, and from its manufacturing en- 
terprise, especially in iron wares, has been 
denominated the " Birmingham of the W^est." 
It stands on the land formed at the junction 
of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, on 
a level alluvion deposit, but entirely above 
the highest waters, surrounded with hills. 
This place was selected as the site of a fort 
and trading depot by the French, about eighty 
years since, and a small stockade erected, 
and called Fort du Quesne, to defend the 
occupancy of it by the English, and to mo- 
nopolize the Indian trade. It came into the 
possession of the British, upon the conquest 
of this country, after the disastrous defeat of 
Gen. Braddock; and under the administration 
of the elder Pitt, a fort was built here under 
the superintendence of Lord Stanwix, that 
cost more than $260,000, and called Fort 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 175 

Pitt. In 1760, a considerable town arose 
around the fort, surrounded with beautiful 
gardens and orchards, but it decayed on the 
breaking out of the Indian war, in 1763. The 
origin of the present town may be dated 1765. 
Its plan was enlarged, and re-surveyed in 
1784, and then belonged to the Penn family, 
as a part of their hereditary manor. By them 
it was sold. 

The Indian wars in the West, retarded its 
growth for several years after, but since, it 
has steadily increased, according to the fol- 
lowing table: — 

1800, 1,565 

1810, 4,768 

1820, 7,248 

1830, , 12,542 

1835, estimated, 30,000 

The estimate of 1835 includes the suburbs. 
The town is compactly built, and some streets 
are handsome; but the use of coal for culinary 
and manufacturing purposes, gives the town a 
most dingy and gloomy aspect. Its salubrity 
and admirable situation for commerce and 
manufactures ensure its future prosperity and 
increase of population. The exhaustless beds 
of coal in the bluffs of the Monongahela, and 
of iron ore, which is found in great abundance 
in all the mountainous regions of Western 
Pennsylvania, give it preeminence over other 
western cities, for manufacturing purposes. 
It really stands at the head of steam-boat navi- 
gation, on the waters of the Ohio: for the Al- 



176 peck's guide. 

leghany and Monongahela rivers are navigable 
only at high stages of water, and, by the recent 
improvements in the channel of the Ohio and 
the use of light draft boats, the navigation to 
Pittsburgh is uninterrupted, except in winter. 
The suburbs of Pittsburgh, are Birming- 
ham, on the south bank of the Monongahela, 
Alleghany town, on the opposite side of the 
Alleghany river, and containing a population 
of about 7000, Lawrenceville, Northern and 
Eastern Liberties. 

Manufactures. 

Nail Factories and Rolling Mills. Weiglit. Vali;e. 

Union, 720,000 ."^43,200 

Sligo, 400,000 32,000 

Pittsburgh, 782,887 8(i,544 

Grant's hill, 500,000 20,000 

Juniata, .500,000 30,000 

Pine Creek,. 4.57,000 34,100 

Miscellaneous factories, 360,000 28,200 

The loregoing table was constructed in 
1831. Doubtless this branch of business has 
greatly increased. 

The same year there were twelve foundries 
in and near Pittsburgh, which converted 2963 
tons of metal into castings, employed 132 
hands, consumed 87,000 bushels of charcoal, 
and produced the value of g 189,6 14. 

The following sketch of manufactures in 
Pittsburgh and vicinity, is copied from Tan- 
ner's Guide, published in 1832: — 

Steam engines, thirty-seven, which employ- 
ed 123 hands. Value, gl80,400. 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 177 

Cotton factories, eight, with 369 power- 
looms, 598 hands; value, $300,134. In the 
counties of Westnnoreland and Alleghany, 
there are five cotton factories. 

In Pittsburgh and the two counties just 
named, are eight paper mills, valued at 
$165,000. 

In Pittsburgh and vicinity are five steam 
mills, which employ 50 hands. Value of their 
products annually, §80,000. 

There are five brass-foundries and eight 
coppersmiths' shops. Value of the manufac- 
tures, §:25,000. 

Within the limits of the city, there are thirty 
blacksmiths' shops, which employ 136 hands. 
There are also four gunsmiths, and nine sil- 
versmiths and watch repairers. 

In Pittsburgh, and the counties of West- 
moreland and Alleghany, there are twenty-six 
saddleries and forty-one tanneries, sixty-four 
brick-yards and eleven potteries. There are 
in the city, four breweries, and four white 
lead manufactories, at which 7400 kegs are 
made annually; value, $27,900. 

There are six printing offices in Pittsburgh, 
and six more in the two counties. 

The estimated value of the manufactures of 
every kind in Pittsburgh, and the counties of 
Alleghany and Westmoreland, in 1831, was 
$3,978,469. Doubtless they have greatly in- 
creased since. 

Coal. The bituminous coal formations- 
around Pittsburgh, are well deserving the at- 



178 peck's guide. 

tention of geologists. Coal hill, on the west 
side of the Monongahela, and immediately op- 
posite Pittsburgh, is the great source of this 
species of fuel ; and the miners, in some places, 
have perforated the hill to the distance of sev- 
eral hundred feet. It is found in strata from 
six inches to ten or twelve feet in thickness, 
and often at the height of three hundred teet 
above the bed of the river, in the hills around 
Pittsburgh, and along the course of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela. Below this one stra- 
tum, which is of equal elevation, none is found 
till you reach the base of the hill, below the bed 
of the river. Besides supplying Pittsburgh, 
large quantities are sent down the river. 

There are in Pittsburgh (or were two years 
since), three Baptist churches, or congrega- 
tions, one of which is of Welch ; four Presby- 
terian, four Methodist, one Episcopal, one 
Roman Catholic (besides a cathedral on 
Grant's hill), one Covenanter, one Seceder, 
one German Reformed, one Unitarian, one 
Associate Relormed, one Lutheran, one Af- 
rican, and perhaps some others in the city 
or suburbs. 

Of the public buildings deserving notice, I 
will name the Western University of Pennsijha- 
nia, which stands on the Monongahela, near 
Grant's hill; the Penitentiarij, in Alleghany 
town, which has cost the State an immense 
amount, and is conducted on the principle of 
solitary conHnement; the Preshijterian Theo- 
logical Seminary is also in Alleghany town; 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 179 

the Museum; the United States Arsenal, about 
two miles above the city, at Lawrenceville. 
It encloses four acres, and has a large depot 
for ordnance, arms, &c. The City Water- 
ivorks is a splendid monument of municipal 
enterprise. The water is taken from the Al- 
leghany river, by a pipe, fifteen inches in 
diameter, and carried 2439 feet, and one hun- 
dred and sixteen ket elevation, to a reservoir 
on Grant's hill, capable of receiving 1,000,000 
gallons. The water is raised by a steam en- 
gine of eighty-four horse power, and will raise 
1,500,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. The 
aqueduct of the Pennsylvania canal, across the 
Alleghany river, is also deserving attention. 

The inhabitants of Pittsburgh are a mixture 
of English, French, Scotch, Irish, German 
and Swiss artizans and mechanics, as well as 
of native born Americans, who live together in 
much harmony. Industry, sobriety, morality 
and good order generally prevail. Extensive 
revivals of religion prevailed here a year or 
two since. 

The population of Western Pennsylvania is 
characterized for industry, frugality, economy 
and enterprise. Temperance principles have 
made considerable progress of late years. 



CHAPTER Vlll. 

WESTERN VIRGINIA. 
Sulphur, Hot and Sweet Springs — Chief Towns. 

Western Virginia embraces all that part 
of Virginia that lies upon the western waters. 
The counties are Brooke, Ohio, Monongalia, 
Harrison, Randolph, Russell, Preston, Tyler, 
Wood, Greenbrier, Kenawha,* Mason, Lewis,; 
Nicholas, Logan, Cabell, Monroe, Pocahon-; 
tas, Giles, Montgomery, Wythe, Grayson,! 
Tazewell, Washington, Scott, and Lee, — 26. i 

Its principal river is the Kenawha and its 
tributaries. Of these, Gaula, New river and 
Greenbrier are the principal. New river is 
the largest, and rises in North Carolina. The 
Monongahela drains a large district; the little 
Kenawha, Guyandotte and Sandy are smaller 
streams. The latter separates Virginia from 
Kentucky, for some distance. 

Much of Western Virginia is mountainous, 

* I have adopted the orthography of the legislature. 



WESTERN VIRGINIA. 181 

lying in parallel ridges, which are often brok- 
en by streams. Some of the vallies are very 
fertile. The Kenawha valley is narrow, but 
extends to a great distance. The salt-manu- 
factories extend from Charlestown, up the 
Kenawha, the distance of twelve miles. They 
are twenty in number, and manufacture nearly 
two millions of bushels annually. The river 
is navigable for steam-boats to this point, at 
an ordinary depth of water. Coal is used in 
the manufactories, which is dug from the ad- 
jacent mountains, and brought to the works 
on wooden rail-ways. Seven miles above 
Charlestown is the famous burning spring. 
Inflammable gas escapes, which, if ignited, 
will burn with great brilliancy for many hours, 
and even for several days, in a favorable state 
of the atmosphere. The State of Virginia has 
constructed a tolerably good turnpike road 
from the mouth of the Guyandotte, on the 
Ohio, to Staunton. It passes through Charles- 
town, and along the Kenawha river to the 
falls; from thence it extends along the course 
of New river, and across Sewall's mountain, 
by Louisburg, to Staunton. The falls of 
Kenawha are in a romantic region, and merit 
the attention of the traveler. Marshall's pillar 
is a singular projecting rock, that overhangs 
New river, 1015 feet above its bed. The 
stage road passes near its summit. 

This route is one of the great stage routes 
leading from the Ohio valley to Washington 
city, and to all parts of old Virginia. 



182 peck's guide. 

The White Sulphur, Red Sulphur, Hot, 
Warm, and Sweet Springs are in the moun- 
tainous parts of Virginia, and on this route. 
These are all celebrated as watering-places, 
but the White Sulphur spring is the great re- 
sort of the fashionable of the Southern States. 
Let the reader imagine an extensive camp- 
ground, a mile in circumference, the camps 
neat cottages, built of brick, or framed, and 
neatly painted. In the centre of this area are 
the springs, bath-houses, dining-hall, and 
mansion of the proprietor. The cottages are 
intended for the accommodation of families, 
and contain two rooms each. This is by far the 
most extensive watering-place in the Union. 
Of the effect of such establishments on morals 
I shall say nothing. The reader will draw his 
own conclusions, when he understands that 
the card-table, roulette, wheel of fortune and 
dice-box are amongst its principal amuse- 
ments. Here, not unfrequently, cotton bales, 
negroes, and even plantations, change owners 
in a night. The scenery around is highly 
picturesque and romantic. Declivities and 
mountains, sprinkled over with evergreens, 
are scattered in wild confusion. A few miles 
from White Sulphur springs, you pass the di- 
viding line, — the Alleghany ridge, — and pass 
from Western into Middle Virginia. 

Chief Towns. Wheeling is the principal 
commercial town, and a great thoroughfare, 
in Western Virginia. It has a large number 
of stores and commission ware-houses; and 



WESTERN VIRGINIA. 183 

contains six or eight thousand inhabitants. It 
is ninety-two miles by water, and fifty-five 
miles by land, from Pittsburgh. It has manu- 
factures of cotton, glass and earthen ware: 
boats are built here. The Cumberland or 
national road crosses the Ohio at this place, 
over which a bridge is about to be erected. 
The town is surrounded with bold, precipitous 
hills, which contain inexhaustible quantities 
of coal. At extreme low water steam-boats 
ascend no higher than Wheeling. 

Charlestown, Wellsburgh, Parkersburgh, 
Point Pleasant, Clarksburgh, Abington, Lou- 
isburg, and many others, are pleasant and 
thriving towns. 

The climate of Western Virginia is pre- 
eminently salubrious. The people, in their 
manners, have considerable resemblance to 
those of Western Pennsylvania. There are 
fewer slaves, less wealth, more industry and 
equality, than in the "old dominion," as 
Eastern Virginia is sometimes called. 



CHAPTER IX. 



MICHIGAN. 

Extent — Situation — Boundaries — Face of the Country — 
Rivers, Lakes, &c.— Soil and Productions— Subdivisions, 

Counties Chief Towns — Education Improvements 

projected — Boundary Dispute — Outline of the Consti- 
tution. 

Michigan is a large triangular peninsula, 
surrounded on the east, north and west, by 
lakes, and on the south by the States of Ohio 
and Indiana, Lake Erie, Detroit river, lake 
St. Clair and St. Clair river, lie on the east 
for 140 miles; lake Huron on the north-east 
and north, the straits of Mackinaw on the ex- 
treme north-west, and lake Michigan on its 
western side. Its area is about 40,000 square 
miles. 

Face of the Counfrij. Its general surface is 
level, having no mountains, and no very ele- 
vated hills. Still, much of its surface is un- 
dulating, like the swelling of the ocean. 
Along the shore of lake Huron, in some 
places, are high, precipitous bluffs, and along 



MICHIGAN. 185 

the eastern shore of Michigan are hills of 
pure sand, blown up by the winds from the 
lake. Much of the country bordering on 
lakes Erie, Huron, and St. Clair, is level, — 
somewhat dc iicient in good water, and for the 
•nost part heavily timbered. The interior is 
more undulating, in some places rather hilly, 
with much fine timber, interspersed with oak 
"openings," "plains," and "prairies." 

The jjlains are usually timbered, destitute 
of undergrowth, and are beautiful. The soil 
is rather gravelly. The ojjenings contain 
scattering timber in groves and patches, and 
resemble those tracts called barrens farther 
south. There is geneially timber enough for 
farming purposes, if used with economy, while 
it costs but little labor to clear the land. For 
the first ploughing, a strong team of four or 
five yoke of oxen is required, as is the case 
with prairie. 

The ojjeiiings produce good wheat. 

The prairies, will be described more par- 
ticularly under the head of Illinois. In 
Michigan, they are divided into wet and dry. 
The latter possess a rich soil, from one to 
four feet deep, and produce abundantly all 
kinds of crops common to 42 degrees of north 
latitude, especially those on St. Joseph river. 
The former afford early pasturage for emi- 
grants, hay to winter their stock, and, with a 
little labor, would be converted into excellent 
artificial meadows. Much of the land that 
now appears wet and marshy, will, in time, be 
9 



186 peck's guide. 

drained, and be the first rate soil for farm- 
ing. 

A few miles back of Detroit is a flat, wet 
country, for considerable extent, much of it 
heavily timbered, — the streams muddy and 
sluggish, — some wet prairies, — with dry, 
sandy ridges intervening. The timber consists 
of all the varieties found in the Western 
States; such as oaks of various species, wal- 
nut, hickory, maple, poplar, ash, beech, &c,, 
with an intermixture of white and yellow 
pine. 

Rivers and Lakes. In general, the country 
abounds with rivers and small streams. They 
rise in the interior, and flow in every direc- 
tion to the lakes which surround it. The 
northern tributaries of the Maumee rise in 
Michigan, though the main stream is in Ohio, 
and it enters the west end of lake Erie on the 
" debatable land." Proceeding up the lake, 
Raisin and then Huron occur. Both are nav- 
igable streams, and their head waters inter- 
lock with Grand river, or Washtenong, which 
flows into lake Michigan. River Rouge enters 
Detroit river, a few miles below the city of 
Detroit. Raisin rises in the county of Lena- 
wee, and passes through Monroe. Huron 
originates amongst the lakes of Livingston, 
passes through Washtenaw, and a corner of 
Wayne, and enters lake Erie towards its 
north-western corner. Above Detroit is river 
Clinton, which heads in Oakland county, pass- 
es through Macomb, and enters lake St. 



MICHIGAN. 187 

Clair. Passing by several smaller streams, 
as Belle, Pine, and Black rivers which fall in- 
to St. Clair river, and going over an immense 
tract of swampy, wet country, between lake 
Huron and Saginaw bay, in Sanilac county, 
we come to the Saginaw river. This stream, 
is formed by the junction of the Tittibawassee, 
Hare, Shiawassee, Flint, and Cass rivers, all 
of which unite in the centre of Saginaw coun- 
ty, and form the Saginaw river, which runs 
north, and enters the bay of the same name. 
The Tittibawassee rises in the country west 
of Saginaw bay, runs first a south, and then 
a south-eastern course, through Midland coun- 
ty into Saginaw county, to its junction. Pine 
river is a branch of this stream, that heads in 
the western part of Gratiot county, and runs 
north-east into Midland. Hare, the original 
name of which is Waposebee, commences in 
Gratiot and the north-west corner of Shia- 
wassee counties, and runs an east and north- 
east course. The heads of the Shiawassee, 
which is the main fork of the Saginaw, are 
found in the counties of Livingston and Oak- 
land. Its course is northward. Flint river 
rises in the south part of Lapeer county, and 
runs a north-western course some distance 
past the centre of the county, when it sudden- 
ly wheels to the south, then to the west, and 
enters Genesee county, through which it 
pursues a devious course towards its destina- 
tion. Cass river rises in Sanilac county, and 
runs a western course. These rivers are 
formed of innumerable branches, and water 
an extensive district of country. Other small- 



188 peck's guide. 

er streams enter lake Huron, above Saginaw 
bay; but the whole country across, to lake 
Michigan is yet a wilderness, and recently 
purchased of the Indians. Doubtless it will 
soon be surveyed and settled. On the west- 
ern side of the State are Traverse, Ottawa, 
Betsey, Manistic, Pent, White, Maskegon, 
Grand, Kekalamazoo, and St. Joseph, all of 
which fall into lake Michigan. Those above 
Grand river are beyond the settled portion of 
the State. Grand river is the largest in 
Michigan, being 270 miles in length, its wind- 
ings included. Its head waters interlock with 
the Pine, Hare, Shiawassee, Huron, Raisin, 
St. Joseph and Kekalamazoo. A canal pro- 
ject is already in agitation to connect it with 
the Huron, and open a water communication 
from lake Erie, across the peninsula, direct 
to lake Michigan. Grand river is now navi- 
gable for batteaux, 240 miles, and receives in 
its course, Portage, Red Cedar, Looking- 
glass, Maple, Muscota, Flat, Thorn-Apple, 
and Rouge rivers, besides smaller streams. 
It enters lake Michigan 245 miles south-west- 
erly from Mackinaw, and 75 north of St. Jo- 
seph; — is between fifty and sixty rods wide 
at its mouth, with eight feet water over its bar. 
Much of the land on Grand river and its trib- 
utaries, is excellent, consisting of six or seven 
thousand square miles; — and, considering its 
central position in the State, — the general fer- 
tility of its soil, — the good harbor at its 
mouth, — the numerous mill sites on its 
tributaties, — this region may be regarded 



MICHIGAN. 189 

as one of the most interesting portions of 
Michigan. The Kekalamazoo rises in Jackson 
and Eaton counties, passes through Calhoun 
and the northern part of Kalamazoo, enters 
the south-eastern part of Allegan, and passes 
diagonally through it to the lake. There is 
much first-rate land, timber, prairie and 
openings on its waters, and is rapidly 
settling. 

The St. Joseph country is represented by 
some as the best country in Michigan. This 
stream has several heads in Branch, Hillsdale, 
Jackson, Calhoun, and Kalamazoo counties, 
which unite in St. Joseph county, through 
which it passes diagonally to the south-west, 
into Indiana, — thence through a corner of 
Elkhart county, into St. Joseph of that State, 
makes the " South Bend," and then runs 
north-westerly into Michigan, through Berrian 
county, to the lake. The town of St. Joseph 
is at its mouth. It has Pigeon, Prairie, Hog, 
Portage Christianna, Dowagiake, and Crook- 
ed rivers for tributaries, all of which afford 
good mill sites. In Cass and St. Joseph 
counties, are Four-mile, Beardsley, Town- 
send, McKenny, La Grange, Pokagon, Young, 
Sturges, Nottawa-Sepee, and White Pigeon 
prairies, which are rich tracts of country, and 
fast filling up with inhabitants. 

Michigan abounds with small lakes and 
ponds. Some have marshy and unhealthy 
borders; others are transparent fountains, 
surrounded with beautiful groves, an undula- 
ting country, pebbly and sandy shores, and 



190 peck's guide. 

teeming with excellent fish. The counties of 
Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw, Jackson, 
Barry and Kalamazoo are indented with them. 

Productions. These are the same, in gen- 
eral, as those of Ohio and New York. Corn 
and wheat grow luxuriantly here; rye, oats, 
barley, buckwheat, potatoes and all the gar- 
den vegetables common to the climate, grow 
well; all the species of grasses are produced 
luxuriantly; apples, and other fruit, abound 
in the older settlements, especially among the 
French about Detroit. It will be a great fruit 
country. 

Subdivisio7is. Michigan had been divided 
into thirty-three counties in 1835, some of 
which were attached to adjacent counties for 
judicial purposes. Other counties may have 
been formed since. The following organized 
counties show the population of the State 
(then Territory), at the close of 1834: 

Counties. Population. Peats of Justice. I i>t- from 

' Detroit. 

Berrian, ...... 1,787 Berrian, 180 

Branch, ....... 764 Branch, 133 

Calhoun, 1,714 Eckford, 100 

Cass, 3,280 Cassopolis, 160 

Jackson, 1,865 Jacksonburgh, . ... 77 

Kalamazoo, .... 3,124 Bronson, 137 

Lenawee, 7,911 Tecumseh, 63 

Macomb, 6,055 Mount Clemens, . . 25 

Monroe, 8,542 Monroe, 36 

Oakland, 13,844 Pontiac, 26 

St. Clair, 2,244 St. Clair, 60 

St. Joseph, .... 3,168 White Pigeon, 135 

Washtenaw, . . . 14,920 Ann Arbor, 42 

Wayne, 16,638 Detroit, 

Total, 85,856 



MICHIGAN. 191 

The other counties are Hillsdale, Van Bu- 
ren, Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Living- 
ston, Lapeer, Genesee, Shiawassee, Clinton, 
Ionia, Kent, Ottawa, Oceana, Gratiot, Isabel- 
la, Midland, Saginaw, Sanilac, Gladwin and 
Arenac, the population of which are included 
in the counties given in the table. Doubtless, 
the population of Michigan exceeds one hun- 
dred thousand. 

The counties are subdivided into incorpo- 
rated townships, for local purposes, the lines 
of which usually correspond with the land 
surveys. 

For the sales of public lands, the State is 
divided into three land districts, and land-of- 
fices are established at Detroit, Monroe, and 
Bronson. 

Chief Toivns. Detroit is the commercial 
and political metropolis. It is beautifully sit- 
uated on the west side of the river Detroit, 
eighteen miles above Maiden, in Canada, and 
eight miles below the outlet of lake St. Clair. 
A narrow street, on which the wharves are 
built, runs parallel with the river. After 
ascending the bench or bluff, is a street call- 
ed Jefferson avenue, on which the principal 
buildings are erected. The older dwellings 
are of wood, but many have been recently 
built of brick, with basements of stone, the 
latter material being brought from Cleveland, 
Ohio. The primitive forest approaches near 
the town: the table land extends twelve or 
fifteen miles interior, when it becomes wet 



192 peck's guide, 

and marshy. Along Detroit river the ancient 
French settlements extend several miles, and 
the inhabitants exhibit all the peculiar traits 
of the French on the Mississippi. Their gar- 
dens and orchards are valuable. 

The public buildings of Detroit are a state- 
house, a council-house, an academy, and two 
OP three banking-houses. There are five 
churches for as many different denominations,, 
in which the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
]>aptists, Methodists and Roman Catholics 
v/orship. The Catholic congregation is the 
largest, and they have a large cathedral. 
Stores and commercial warehouses are nu- 
merous, and business is rapidly increasing. 
Town lots, rents, and landed property in the 
\ijinity, are rising rapidly. Lots have ad- 
vanced, within two or three years, in the 
business parts of the city, more than one 
thousand percent. Mechanics of all descrip- 
tions, and particularly those in the building 
line, are much wanted here, and in other 
towns in Michigan. The population is sup- 
posed to be about 10,000, and is rapidly in- 
creasing. This place commands the trade of 
all the upper lake country. 

Monroe, the seat of justice for Monroe 
county, is situated on the right bank of the 
river Raisin, opposite the site of old French- 
fown. Three years since, it had about one 
j.undred and fifty houses, of which twenty or 
thirty were of stone, and 1600 inhabitants. 
There were also two flouring and several 



MICHIGAiV. 193 

saw-mills, a woollen factory, an iron foundry, 
a chair factory, &.C., and an abundant supply 
of water power. The "Bank of the River 
Raisin," with a capital of §100,000, is es- 
tablished here. The Presbyterians, Epis- 
copalians, Baptists, Methodists and Roman 
Catholics have houses of worship and minis- 
ters here. 

It was at this place, or rather at French- 
town in its vicinity, that a horrible massacre 
of American prisoners took place during the 
last war with Great Britain, by the Indians 
under Gen. Proctor. The sick and wounded 
were burned alive in the hospital, or shot as 
they ran shrieking through the flames! Of 
the seven hundred young men barbarously 
murdered here, many were students at law, 
young physicians and merchants, the best 
blood of Kentucky. 

Mount Clemens, Brownstown, Ann xArbor, 
Pontiac, White Pigeon, Tecumseh, Jackson- 
burgh, Niles, St. Joseph, Spring Arbor, and 
many others, are pleasant villages, and will 
soon become populous. 

Editcaiioa. Congress has made the same 
donation of lands, as to other Western States, 
and will, doubtless, appropriate the same per 
centage on the sales of all public lands, when 
the State is admitted into the Union, as has 
been appropriated in the other new States. A 
respectable female academy is in operation at 
Detroit. The Presbyterian denomination are 
about establishing a college at Ann Arbor, the 



194 peck's guide. 

Methodists a seminary at Spring Arbor, the 
Baptists one in Kalamazoo county, and the 
Roman Catholics, it is said, have fixed their 
post at Bertrand, a town on the St. Joseph 
river, in the south-eastern corner of Berrian 
county, and near to the boundary line of In- 
diana. Much sentiment and feeling exists in 
favor of education and literary institutions, 
among the people. 

Projected Improvements. A survey has been 
made for a rail-road across the peninsula 
of Detroit, through the counties of Wayne, 
Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, 
Van Buren and Berrian, to the mouth of St. 
Joseph river. Another project is, to com- 
mence, at or near Toledo, on the Maumee 
river, and pass through the southern counties 
of Michigan, into Indiana, and terminate at 
Michigan city. A third project is, to open a 
water communication from the navigable wa- 
ters of Grand river to Huron river, and, by 
locks and slack-water navigation, enter lake 
Erie. A canal from the mouth of Maumee 
bay to lake Michigan, has also been spoken 
of as a feasible project; or one from the mouth 
of the river Raisin to the St. Joseph would 
open a similar communication. It has also 
been suggested to improve the river Raisin 
by locks and slack-water navigation. Doubt- 
less, not many years will elapse betbre some 
of these projects will prove realities. 

Boundary Dispute. This unpleasant dis- 
pute between Ohio and Michigan, relates to 



MICHIGAN. 195 

a strip of country about fifteen miles in width 
at its eastern and seven miles at its western 
end, lying between the north-eastern part of 
Indiana and the Maumee bay. A portion of 
the Wabash and Erie canal, now constructing 
by Indiana, and which is dependent for its 
completion on either Ohio or Michigan, passes 
over this territory. Michigan claims it, by 
virtue of an ordinance of Congress, passed 
July 13, 1787, organizing the Korth-Western 
Territory, in which the boundaries of three 
States were laid off; "provided, that the 
boundaries of these three States shall be sub- 
ject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall 
hereafrer find it expedient, they shall have 
authority to form one or two States in that 
part of the said Territory which lies north of 
an east and west line drawn through the south- 
erly bend or extreme of lake Michigan.'" Ohio 
claims it by possession; and because, by being 
received into the Union with this portion in 
possession. Congress virtually annulled that 
part of the former ordinance that fixed the 
south bend of lake Michigan as the boundary 
line, and by having run the line north of this. 

Outlines of the Constitution. A convention 
assembled at Detroit, May 11, 1835, and 
framed a constitution for a State government, 
which was submitted to and ratified by vote of 
the people, on the first Monday in October. 

The powers of the government are divided 
into three distinct departments; the legisla- 
tive, the executive, and the judicial. 



196 peck's guide. 

The legislative power is vested in a Senate 
and House of Representatives. The represent- 
atives are to be chosen annually; and their 
number cannot be less than forty-eight, nor 
more than one hundred. 

The senators are to be chosen every two 
years, one half of them every year, and to 
consist, as nearly as may be, of one third of 
the number of the representatives. 

The census is to be taken in 1837 and 1845, 
and every ten years after the latter period, 
and also after each census taken by the Unit- 
ed States: the number of senators and repre- 
sentatives is to be apportioned anew among 
the several counties, according to the number 
of white inhabitants. 

The legislature is to meet annually, on the 
first Monday in January. 

The executive power is to be vested in a 
governor, who holds his office for two years. 
Upon a vacancy, the lieutenant governor per- 
forms executive duties. The first election 
was held on the first Monday in October, 
1835; and the governor and lieutenant gover- 
nor hold their offices till the first Monday in 
January, 1838. 

The judicial power is vested in one Supreme 
Court, and in such other courts as the legisla- 
ture may, from time to time, establish. The 
judges of the supreme court are to be ap- 
pointed by the governor, with the advice and 
consent of the senate, for the term of seven 
years. Judges of all county courts, associate 



MICHIGAN. 197 

judges of circuit courts and judges of probate 
are to be elected by the people, for the term 
of four years. 

Each township is authorized to elect four 
justices of the peace, who are to hold their 
offices for four years. In all elections, every 
white male citizen, above the age of twenty- 
one years, having resided six months next 
preceding any election, is entitled to vote at 
such election. Slavery, lotteries and the sale 
of lottery-tickets are prohibited. 

The seat of government is to be at Detroit, 
or such other place or places as may be pre- 
scribed by law, until the year 1847, when it is 
to be permanently fixed by the legislature. 



CHAPTER X, 



OHIO. 

Boundaries — Divisions — Face of the Country — Soil and 
Prod uctions — Animals — Minerals — Financial Statistics- 
Canal Fund — Expenditures — Land Taxes — School Fund 
— Statistics — Canal Revenues — Population at difierent 
Periods Rivers Internal Improvements Manufac- 
tures — Cities and Towns, Cincinnati, Columbus — Edu- 
cation — Form of Government — Antiquities — History. 

Ohio is bounded on the north by lake Erie 
and the State of Michigan, east by Pennsyl- 
vania and the Ohio river, south by the Ohio 
river, which separates it from Virginia and 
Kentucky, and west by Indiana. The inean- 
derings of the Ohio river extend along the line 
of this State four hundred and thirty-six miles. 
It is about two hundred and twenty-two miles 
in extent, both from north to south and from 
east to west. After excluding a section of lake 
Erie, which projects into its northern borders, 
Ohio contains about 40,000 square miles, or 
25,000,000 acres of land. 

Divisions. Nature has divided this State 



OHIO. 



199 



into four departments, according to its princi- 
pal waters. 

1. The lake country, situated on lake Erie, 
and embracing all its northern part. Its 
streams all run into the lake, and reach the 
Atlantic ocean through the gulf of wSt. Law- 
rence. 

2. The Muskingum county, on the eastern 
side, and along the river of that name. 

3. The Scioto country, in the middle; and, 

4. The Miama country, along the western 
side. 

P'or civil purposes, the State is divided into 
seventy-five counties, and these are again sub- 
divided into townships. Their names, date of 
organization, number of square miles, number 
of organized townships, seats of justice, and 
bearing and distance from Columbus, are ex- 
hibited in the following table: 



Counties. 


1 ^ . :^^ 

' =^ £ .'si 


Seats of Justice. 


Hi 




■ i'E \=^ § ; 




— as 




^^VFe^f: 




iU 


Adams, . . 


. 1797 550 10 


West Union, . . . 


101 s. 


Allen, . . . 


. 1831 542 


Lima, 


110 n.-u: 


Ashtabula, . 


. 1811 700 27 


Jeiferson, 


200 n.w. 


Athens, . . . 


. 1805 740 19 


Athens, 


73 s.e. 


Belmont, . 


. 1801 536 16 


St. Clairsville, . . . 


116 e. 


Brown, . . . 


. 1818 470 14 


Georgetown, .... 


104 s. 


Butler, . . . 


. 1803 480 13 


Hamilton, 


101 s.w. 


Carrol,* .. 


. 1833 * : * 

! 1 


Carrolton, 


125 e.n.e. 



* Carroll county has been formed from Columbiana, H irrison, Stark 
and Tuscarawas, since the edition of the Ohio Gazetteer of 1833 was 
published, from which the foregoing table has been constructed. 
Hence the townships are not given. 



200 



PECK S GUIDE. 



Counties. 



1805 



1818412 



Champaign, . 

Clark, 

Clermont, . . 
Clinton, .... 
Columbiana, 
Coshocton, . 
Crawford, . . 

Cuyahoga,. . 

Dark, 1817 660 



12 

10 
1800|515! 12 
1810i400| 8 
1803i * I * 
I8I1I562I2I 
i 1826:594! 12 
101475! 19 
10 



Delaware, 
Fairfield, . 
Fayette, . . 
Franklin, , 
Gallia, . . . 
Geauga, . . 
Greene, . . . 
Guernsey, 
Ilan)iIton, . 
Hancock, . 
Hardin, . . 
Harrison, . . 
Henry, . . . 
Highland, . 
Hocking, . 
Holmes, . . 
Huron, . . . 
Jackson, . . 
Jefferson, . 
Knox, . . . 
Lawrence, . 
Licking, . . 
Logan, . . . 
Lorain, . . . 
Lucas,*. . . 



of .lustice. 



Urbanna, j o\) w.n.w. 

Springfield, . . . . i 44 w. 

Eatavia, ' 96 s.w. 

Wilmington, .... 60 s.iv. 
Nevv Lisbon,. . . .1150 e.n.e. 
Coshocton, . . . . ! (6S v.e. 

Bucyrus, \ 60 ?;. 

'l40 n.n.e. 

93 iv. 

24 lu 

28 s.e. 

38 sjc. 



Cleveland, . , . 
Greenville, . . 

1808|6i0i 23 Delaware, . . , 
I18OO 54o| 14 Lancaster, . . 

18 10 '415 7 Washington,. 
jl803 520J 18 Columbus, . . .i 

1803 500j 15 Gallipolis, 1102 s.s.e. 

I8O516OO 23 Chardofl, 157 n.e. 

1803'400j 8 IXenia, 56 ic.s.w. 

1810 621 ! 19 |Cambridge, .... 16 e. 

1790 400' 14 Cincinnati, 110 s.w. 

1828 576; 5 Findlay, I 90 v.n.ir. 

1833.570 — IKenton, 70 n.n.w. 

18l3t*— 13 Cadiz, |l24 e.n.e. 

1744! 2 Napoleon, 161 ?i:w. 

1805 1555 11 jHillsborough, ... 62 s.s.rr. 

18181432" 9 [Logan, 46 s.s.e. 

1825'422 14 iMillersburg, 81 n.c. 

!l815 SOO 29 JNorwalk, 106 n. 

! 1816 490 13 j Jackson, 73 s.s.e. 

11797:400 13 Steubenville, ...147 e.n.e. 
!l808|618 24 |Moiint Vernon, . . i 47 n.n.e. 
jl817j430 12 Burlington, .... 130 s.s.e. 

1 1808' 666 25 Newark, '• 33 e.n.e. 

J1818 425 9 Bellefontaine, . . .! 50 n.w. 

11824 580 19 Elyria, 130 n.n.e. 

'l835' I — Toledo, 150 n.n.ic. 



* Luciis county lias been rccrsntly formed from parts taken trom 
Sandusky and Wood counties, and from the disputed country claimed 
by Micliigan. 



OHIO. 



201 



Counties 



Madison, 
Marion, . 
Medina, . 
Meigs, . 
Mercer, 
Miarrji, . 
Monroe, 




. 1810 480 10 
. 1824 527 15 

. 18]8|475, 14 
. 1819|400 12 
. 1824576 4 
. 1807410 12 
.1815 563 18 



1819500 15 
1804 665 23 

1432 3 

181S|402 12 
1810470 14 
1815421 9 
I8O7I75O 



[8081432 12 



Montgomery, 1803 480 1: 

Morgan, . . 

Musldngum, 

Paulding,* . 

Perry, . . , 

Pickaway, . 

Pike, .... 

Portage, . . 

Preble, . . . 

Putnam,* . 

Richland, . 

Ross, . . , 

Sandusky, 

Scioto, . . . 

Seneca, . . 

Shelby, . . . 

Stark, . . , 

Trumbull, 

Tuscarawas 

Union, . . . 

Vanwert,t . 

Warren, . . 

Washington 

Wayne, . . 

Williams, . 

Wood,. . . 



London, : 25 iv.s.w. 

Marion, i 45 ?z. 

Medina, 110 n.n.e. 

Chester, I 94 s.s.e. 

St. Mary's, . . . .111 n.w. 

Troy, I 68 n.ofw. 

Woodsfield,. . . . |l20 e.s.e. 

Dayton, 68 w. 

M'Connelsville, . 75 s.c. 
Zanesville, . . 



576 

1813:900 
1798650 
1820J600 
1803700 
1824!540 
18191418 
18091 * 



1800,875 

18081 * I 

1820450| 

432 

1803'400i 

, !l788,713' 

.18121660 

. 1824!600| 

1820750 



■= S 



Seats of Justice. 



52 e. 

170 n.w. 

Somerset, 46 e.s.e. 

Circleville, .... 26 s. 

Piketon, 64 s. 

Ravenna, 135 n.e. 

Eaton, j 50 w. 

jl48 71.W. 

Mansfield, j 74 n.n.e. 

Chilicothe, | 45 s. 

Lower Sandusky, 105 n. 

Portsmouth, . . . . ; 90 s. 

Titfin, . . . , 87 7?. 

Sidney, • 70 n.w. 

Canton, '1I6 n.e. 

Warren, ICO n.e. 

19 JNew Philadelphia, ,100 e.n.e. 
9 iMarysville. ". . . . 30 n.iv. 

I 100 n.w. 

9 JLebanon, 80 s.w. 

19 Marietta, 1106 s.e. 

20 Wooster, 89 n.e. 

10 Defiance, |l30 n.w. 

7 Perrysburg, .... j] 35 7i.w. 

* Pauldinif, Putnam and Vanwert counties had not been organized' 
at the period of our informal ion. 

t Much of the land in Vanwert is wet. The southern portion con- 
tains much swampy prairie. 

9# 



202 peck's guide. 

There are nineteen congressional districts 
in Ohio, which elect as many members of 
Congress, and twelve circuits for courts of 
common pleas. 

Face of the Country. The interior and 
northern parts of the State, bordering on lake 
Erie, are generally level, and, in some places, 
wet and marshy. The eastern and south- 
eastern parts, bordering^ on the Ohio river, 
are hilly and broken, but not mountainous. 
In some counties the hills are abrupt and 
broken; in others they form ridges, and are 
cultivated to their summits. Immediately on 
the banks of the Ohio, and other large rivers, 
are strips of rich alluvion soil. 

The country along the Scioto and two Mi- 
ami rivers, furnish more extensive bodies of 
rich, fertile land, than any other part of the 
State. The prairie land is found in small 
tracts near the head waters of the Muskingum 
and Scioto, and between the sources of the 
two Miami rivers, and especially in the north- 
western part of the State. Many of the prai- 
ries in Ohio are low and wet; some are ele- 
vated and dry, and exhibit the features of 
those tracts called " barrens," in Illinois. 
There are extensive plains, some of which 
are wet, towards Sandusky. 

Soil mid Pi'odnctions. The soil, in at least 
three fourths of the State, is fertile; and some 
of it very rich. The poorest portion of Ohio is 
along the Ohio river, from fifteen to twenty- 
five miles in width, and extending from the na- 



OHIO. 



203 



tional road, opposite Wheeling, to the mouth 
of the Scioto river. Many of the hills in this 
region are rocky. 

Among the forest trees are oak of various 
species, white and black walnut, hickory, 
maple of different kinds, beech, poplar, ash 
of several kinds, birch, buckeye, cherry, 
chestnut, locust, elm, hackberry, sycamore, 
linden, with numerous others. Amongst the 
undergrowth are spice-bush, dogwood, iron- 
wood, pawpaw, hornbeam, black-haw, thorn, 
wild plum, grape vines, &c. The plains and 
wet prairies produce wild grass. 

The agricultural productions are such as 
are common to the Eastern and Middle tStates. 
Indian corn, as in other Western States, is a 
staple grain, raised with much ease, and in 
great abundance: more than one hundred 
bushels are produced from an acre, on the 
rich alluvial soils of the bottom lands, though 
from forty to fifty bushels per acre ought to 
be considered an average crop. The State, 
generally, has a fine soil for wheat, and flour 
is produced for exportation in large quan- 
tities; rye, oats, buckwheat, barley, potatoes, 
melons, pumpkins and all manner of garden 
vegetables, are cultivated to great peri'ection. 
No markets in the United States are more 
profusely and cheaply supplied with meat and 
vegetables than those of Cincinnati and other 
large towns in Ohio. Hemp is produced to 
some extent, and the choicest kinds of tobacco 
are raised and cured in some of the counties 



204 peck's guide. 

east of the Muskingum river. Fruits of all 
kinds are raised in great plenty, especially 
apples, which grow to a large size, and are 
finely flavored. The vine and the mulberry 
have been introduced, and, with enterprise 
and industry, wine and silk might easily be 
added to its exports. 

Animals. Bears, wolves and deer are still 
found in the forests and unsettled portions of 
the State. The domestic animals are similar 
to other States. Swine is one of the staple pro- 
ductions, and Cincinnati has been denomina- 
ted the " pork market of the world." Other 
towns in the West, and in Ohio, are begin- 
ning to receive a share of this trade, especially 
along the lines of the Miami and the Erie ca- 
nals. One hundred and fifty thousand hogs 
have been slaughtered and prepared for mar- 
ket in one season, in Cincinnati. About sev- 
enty-five thousand is the present estimated 
number, from newspaper authority. Immense 
droves of fat cattle are sent every autumn 
from the Scioto valley and other parts of the 
State. They are driven to all the markets of 
the east and south. 

Minerals. The mineral deposits of Ohio, 
as yet discovered, consist principally of iron, 
salt, and bituminous coal, and are found, 
chiefly, along the south-eastern portion of 
the State. Let a line be drav/n from the 
south-eastern part of Ashtabula county, in 
a south-western direction, by Northampton, 
in Portage county, Wooster, .Mount Vernon, 
Granville, Circleville, to Hillsborough, and 



OHIO. 



205 



thence south, to the Ohio river in Brown 
county, and it would leave most of the salt, 
iron and coal on the eastern and south-east- 
ern side. 

Financial Statistics. From the auditor's 
report to the legislature, January, 1836, the 
following items are extracted. The general 
revenue is obtained from moderate taxes on 
landed and personal property, and collected 
by the county treasurers, from insurance, 
bank and bridge companies, from lawyers, 
physicians, &c. 

Collected in 1835, by the several county 

treasurers, $150,080 

Paid by banks, bridges, and insurance com- 
panies, 26,060 

By lawyers and physicians, 1 ,598 

From other sources, , 24,028 

Making an aggregate of «201,766 

The disbursements are: — 

Am.ount of deficit, for 1834, $16,622 

Bills redeemed at the treasury, for the year 

ending Nov. 1835, 182,005 

Interest paid on school fund, 33,101 

Amounting to ^231 ,728 

Showing a deficit in the revenue, of .^29,962 

Canal Funds. These appear to be separate 
accounts from the general receipts and dis- 
bursements. 

Miami Canal. The amount of money aris- 
ing from the sales of esiami canal lands up to 



206 peck's guide. 

Nov. 15, 1835, is $310,178. This sum has 
been expended in the extension of the canal 
north of Dayton. 

Oliio Canal. The amount of taxes collect- 
ed for canal purposes, for the year 1835, in- 
cluding tolls, sales of canal lands, school 
lands, balance remaining in the treasury of 
last year, &c., is $509,322. Only $38,242 of 
the general revenue were appropriated to ca- 
nal purposes; of which, $35,507 went to pay 
interest on the school funds borrowed by the 
State. 

The foreign debt is $4,400,000; the legal 
interest of which is $260,000 per annum. The 
domestic debt of the State, arising from invest- 
ing the different school funds, is $579,287 ; the 
interest of which amounts to $34,757: making 
an aggregate annual interest paid by the State 
on loans, $294,757. The canal tolls for the 
year 1835 amounted to $242,357, and the 
receipts from the sale of Ohio canal lands, 
$64,549; making an aggregate income to the 
canal fund of $306,906 per annum; — a sum 
more than sufficient to pay the interest on all 
loans for canal purposes. 

Items of Expenditure. Under this head the 
principal items of the expenditures of the State 
government are given. 

Members, and officers of the General As- 
sembly, per annum, ;|*43,987 

Officers of government, 20,828 

Keeper of the Penitentiary, 1,909 

For new Penitentiary buildings, 46,050 



OHIO. 207 

State printing, 12,243 

Paper and stationary, for use of the State,. 4,478 

Certificates for wolf scalps, 2,824 

Adjutant, and Quarter Master Generals, 

and Brigade Inspectors, 2,276 

Treasurer's mileage, on settlement with the 

Auditor of State, 1,027 

Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 5,700 

Periodical works, &.C., 400 

Postage on documents, 545 

Reporter to Court, in Bank, 300 

Members and clerks of the Board of Equal- 
ization, and articles furnished, 1,960 

Paymaster General, — Ohio militia, 2,000 

The extra session of the legislature on the 
boundary line, in June, 1835, was ^Sj6,823. 

Land Taxes. The amount of lands taxed, 
and the revenue arising therefrom, at several 
different periods, are herewith given, to show 
the progressive advance of the farming and 
other interests of the State. 

Years. Acres. Taxes paid. 

1809, 9,924,033. . . . $63,991 87 

1810, 10,479,029. . . . 67,501 60 

1811, 12,134,777 .... 170,546 74 

From 1811 to 18.6, the average increase 
of the taxes paid by the several counties, was 
|59,351. From 1816, the State rose rapidly 
in the scale of prosperity and the value of 
property. In 1820, the numher of acres re- 
turned as taxable, exceeded a fraction of thir- 
teen millions, w^hile the aggregate of taxes, 
was $205,346. 

The period of depression and embarrass- 



208 peck's guide. 

ment that followed throughout the West, pre- 
vented property from advancing in Ohio. In 
1826, '27, '28, '29, '30, a material change in 
the amount of property taxable, took place, 
from a few hundred thousands to more than 
fifty millions. The total value of taxable 
property of the State, for 1835 (exclusive of 
three counties, from which returns had not 
been received), amounts to the sum of ninety- 
four millions, four hundred and thirty-seven 
thousand, nine hundred and fifty-one dollars. 

School Funds. The amount of school funds 
loaned to the State, up to Nov. 15, 1835, is: — 

Virginia military land fund, $109,937 

United States military land fund 90,126 

Common school fund, 23,179 

Athens university, 1,431 

School section, No. \G, . . 453,000 

Connecticut Western Reserve, 125,758 

Total, :|'803,432 

The following tabular view of the acres of 
land, total amount of taxable property, and to- 
tal amount of taxes paid for 1833, is taken from 
the Ohio Gazetteer. It should be noted, that 
in all the Western States, lands purchased of 
the government of the United States, are ex- 
empted from taxation for five years after sale. 
It is supposed that such lands are not included 
in the table. I have also placed the popula- 
tion of each county for 1830, from the census 
of that year; reminding the reader that great 
changes have since been made. 



OHIO. 



209 



Counties. 


1 Popula- 
!tioii 1830. 


Acres of land 


lotal amount rp , , 
of taxable j -fl^tal amount 
of taxes Daid. 








property. 


t 


dams, . . . 


12,231 


234,822 


1 $832,565, $6,995 41 


Hen, .... 


57S 


14,159 


1 51,21-^ 


[: 725 28 


•^htabula, . 


14,584 


449,742| 1,347,90C 


>; 13,524 97 


ttiens, . . . 


9,787 


365,348 


; 481,57£ 


; 5,820 90 


elinont, . . 


28,627 


301,511 


! 1,591,716 


11,590 33 


own, . . . . 


17,867 


267,130 


1,458,944 


8,179 35 


utler, . . . . 


27,142 


257,989 


2,514,007 


20,111 55 


IITOI, .... 




185,942 


529,575 


6,876 92 


lanipaign,. 


12,131 


233,493 


' 908,571 


5,956 66 


ark, .... 


13,114 


247,083 


1,114,995 


7,744 89 


erniont, . . 


I 20,466 


280,679 


1 1,542,627 


15,645 31 


inton, .... 


J 1,436 


239,404 


785,770 


6,482 14 


olunibiana, 


35,592 


317,796 


1,491,099 


14,217 28 


ashocton, . 


11,161 


246,123 


850,708 


9,307 28 


ravvford, . . 


4,791 


79,582 


217,675 


3,630 09 


Liyahoga, . . 


10,373 


292,252 


1,401,591 


i 18,122 96 


ark, 


6,204 


107,730 


, 260,259 


3,312 81 


elavvare, . 


11,504 


338,856 


831,093 


8,516 66 


lirfifcld, . . 


24,786 


308,163 


1,992,697 


13,716 97 


lyette, . . . 


8,182 


234,432 


544,539 


6,428 98 


anklin,. . . 


14,741 


325,155 


1,663,315 


13,247 34 


lUia, 


9,733 


205,727 


427,962 


! 4,826 .55 


3auga, . . . 


15,813 


381,380 


1,427,869 


i 15,832 65 


'eene, .... 


14,801 


251,512 


1,441,907 


'i 12,082 36 


jernsey, . 


18,0.36 


275,652 


908,109 


9,855 72 


amilton, . . 


52,317 


239,122 


7,726,091 


97,530 42 


ancock, . . 


813 


9,302 


50,929 


421 70 


T.rden, . . . 


210 


125,607 


118,425 


1,291 43 


irrison, . . 


20,916 


22,412 


1,025,210 


12,400 97 


[ghland, . . 


16,345 


317,079 


1,065,863 


8,755 29 


acking, . . . 


4,008 


92,332 


215,272 


1,919 29 


Ames, . . . 


9,135 


182,439 


556,060 


6,364 03 


aron, .... 


13,346 


504,689 


1,512,655 


15,490 88 


ckson, . . . 


5,941 


57,874 


197,932 


2,239 69 


fferson, . . 


22,489 


230,145 


1,855,064 


13,149 44 


nox, .... 


17,085 


313,823 


1,252,294 


13,329 41 


wrence, . . 


5,367 


56,862 


241,782 


2,280 80 




10 









210 



PECK S GUIDE. 



Popula- 
ion 1830. 



Licking, . 
Logan, , , 
Lorain, . . 
Madison, 
Marion, . 
Medina, . 
Meigs, . . 
Mercer . . 
Miami, . . 
Monroe, . 
Montgomery, 
Morgan, . . . 
Muskingum, 
Peny, .... 
Pickaway, . . 
Pike, . /. . . 
Portage, . . . 

Preble, 

Richland, . . 
Ross, .... 
Sandnsky, . 
Scioto, .... 
Seneca, . . . 
Stark, .... 
Shelby, . . . 
'TFumbuU, . . 
Tuscarawas, 
Union, .... 
Warren, . . . 
Washington, 
Wa}'ne,. . . . 
Williams and 
others not in- 
corporated. 
Wood, 

Total, 



Acres of land. 



rot;il amount 
of taxable 
property. 



20,869 

6,440 

5,696 

6,1901 

6,551 

7,580 

6,158' 

1,110 

12,807 

8,768 

24,362 

11,800 

29,334 

13,970 

16,001 

6,024 

18,826 

16,291 

24,008 

24,068 

2,851 

8,740 

6,1591 

26,588 

3,671 

26,1231 

14,298] 

3,192 

21,468 

11,731 

23,333 




393,205 
203,5091 
360,863 
256,421 
168,164 
296,2571 
229,004| 

12,6881 
240,093 

95,520 
267,349 
169,135 
366,609| 
175,123 
300,969 
129,153 
472,156 
246,678 
433,620j 
328,765; 

95,822, 
105,539! 
108,7581 
374,10l| 

66,863 
556,01ll 
237,337 
259,101 
243,517 
282,498 
382,254 

17,797 

17,981 



Total amount 
of taxes paid. 



2,101,495 
519,622 
889,552 
600,578 
390,602 
931,599 
380,172 
54,118 

1,000,748 
280,572 

2,293,419 
452,991 

2,362,616 
729,241 

1,798,665 
521,109' 

2,019,029 

1,086,322 

1,354,1691 

2,897,605! 
275,9921 
963,882| 
302,089! 

1,854,967 
194,468 

1,807,792 
902,778 
380,535 

2,143,065 
681,301 

1,451,996 

90,066 
127,862 



937,903 17,133,481 78,019,526 730,010 75 



OHIO. 211 

Statistics for 1836. From the annual report 
of the auditor of State, it appears there were 
returned, on the general list for taxation, 
17,819,631 acres of land, under the new valu- 
ation, made under the law of 1833 '34: 

Lands, including buildings, valued at. , {^58,166,821 
Town lots, including houses, mills, etc. 15,762,594 
Horses (262,291), valued at ^AO each, 10,491,640 
Cattle (455,487) , valued at #8 each, . . 4,043,896 
Merchants' capital and money at interest, 7,262,927 
Pleasure carriages (2,603), valued at. . 199,518 

Total amount of taxable property, ^'94,438,016 

On the value of taxable property, the follow- 
ing taxes were levied: 

State and Canal tax .f 142,854 15 

County and School tax, 396,505 80 

Road tax, 66,482 10 

Township tax, 102,991 65 

Corporation, Jail and Bridge tax, .... 51,276 89 

Physicians' and Lawyers' tax, 3,144 19 

School-house tax, 1,482 84 

Delinquencies of former years, 13,044 37 

Total taxes, §777,'782 07 

No returns were made from the counties of 
Crawford, Hancock, Jefferson and Williams. 

Canal Revenues. The total amount of re- 
ceipts for tolls, for the year ending October 
31, 1835, was as follows: 

Ohio Canal. 

Cleaveland,. .$72,718 72 Newark, $20,487 85 

Akron, 6,362 90 Columbus, . . 4,605 37 

Massillon, ... 13,585 78 Circleville, . . 9,65144 

Dover, 8,096 42{ChiIlicothe, . 12,134 75 

Roscoe, 14,555 83 Portsmouth,. 23,118 78 

Total, $185,317 45 



212 peck's guide. 

Miama Canal. 
Dayton,. . . . |;14,016 75 jHaniilton, . . . $3,664 88 
Middleton, . . 8,747 19 | Cincinnati, . . . 25,803 77 
Total, $52,232 59 
Total tolls received on both canals, . . . $237,550 04 
Deduct contingent expenses on Ohio 

canal, $5,836 05 

Do. on Miama canal, 2,954 68—8,790 73 

$228,759 31 
Toll received on Lancaster Lat. canal,. 1,062 56 
Water rents and sale of State lots, . . . 3,700 07 
Arrearages paid of tolls received in Oc- 
tober, 1834, 7,835 26 

$242,357 20 
Population of Ohio, at different periods. 

In Population. jFrom Increase, 

1790, about. . . 3,000 1790 to 1800, . . 42,365 
1800, " ... 45,365|l800 " 1810, . . 185,395 
1810, " ... 230,760|1810 " 1820, .. 350,674 
1820, " ... 581,434 1820 " 1830, .. 356,469 
1830, " ... 937,903 1830 " 1835, . . 437,097 
1835,estimated, 1,375,000 

Rivers. The streams which flow into the 
Ohio river, are the Mahoning, a branch of the 
Beaver, Little Beaver, Muskingum, Hock- 
hocking, Scioto, and Little and Great Miami. 
Those which flow from the northward into 
lake Erie, are the Maumee, Portage, Sandus- 
ky, Huron, Cuyahoga, Grand and Ashtabula. 
Hence the State is divided into two unequal 
inclined planes, the longest of which slopes 
towards the Ohio, and the shortest towards 
the lake. The head waters of the Muskingum, 
Scioto and Miami interlock with those of the 



OHIO. 213 

Cuyahoga, Sandusky and Maumee, so as to 
render the construction of canals not only 
practicable, but comparatively easy. All the 
large streams are now navigable for boats 
during the spring season. 

Internal Improvements. These consist of 
canals, rail-roads, turnpike-roads, and the 
national road, now under the supervision of, 
and owned by the State. The canaling is 
managed by a Board of Commissioners. The 
State canals were projected about 1823; and, 
considering the youthful character of the 
State, its want of funds and other circum- 
stances, they are, undoubtedly, the greatest 
works ever executed in America. 

The Ohio and Erie canal connects lake Erie 
with the Ohio river. It commences at Cleave- 
land, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, passes 
along that river and its tributaries, to the 
summit level; from thence to the waters of the 
Muskingum, and to the border of Muskingum 
county; from thence it strikes across the 
county, past Newark, in Licking county, and 
strikes the Scioto, down the valley of which 
it proceeds to its mouth, at Portsmouth. The 
principal places on the canal are Akron, New 
Portage, Massillon, Bolivar, New Philadel- 
phia, Coshocton, Newark, Bloomfield, Circle- 
ville, ChilJicothe, Piketon and Portsmouth. 
It was commenced on the 4th of July, 1825, 
and completed in 1832; and, together with 
the Miami canal to Dayton, cost about 
$5,500,000, and has greatly enriched the 



214 peck's guide. 

State and the people. Private property along 
its line has risen from five to ten fold. 

Length of the Ohio and Erie Canal. 

Miles. 
Main trunk, from Cleaveland lo Portsmouth, , . .310 
Navigable feeder, from main trunk to Columbus, . 11 
" " " " " Granville,.. 6 

Muskingum side-cut, from the Muskingum river, 

at Dresden, ... 3 

Navigable feeder from the Tuscarawas river, ... 3 
" " " Walhonding river, ... 1 

Total length of Ohio canal and branches, 334 

The Miami canal commences at Cincinnati; 
and, passing through the towns of Reading, 
Hamilton, Middletovvn, Franklin and Miamis- 
burg, terminates at Dayton, sixty-five miles. 
It has been navigated from Dayton to the 
head of Main street, Cincinnati, since the 
spring of 1829. An extension of the work is 
now in progress, to be carried along the val- 
leys of St. Mary's and Au Glaise rivers, and 
unite wdth the Wabash and Erie canal, at 
Defiance; distance from Cincinnati about one 
hundred and ninety miles. 

An act passed the Ohio legislature in 1834, 
for continuing the Wabash and Erie canal 
(now^ constructing in Indiana, by that State), 
from the western boundary of Ohio, to the 
Maumee bay. Operations have been suspend- 
ed by the boundary dispute with Michigan. 

The Mahoning and Beaver canal has al- 
ready been noticed, under the head of W^est- 
erii Pennsylvania. It is proposed to carry it 



215 



from Akron, on the Portage summit, along the 
valley of the Mahoning river, to Newcastle, 
on the Beaver division of the Pennsylvania 
canal. Distance in Ohio, seventy-seven 
miles. The work is in progress. 

The Sandy Creek and Little Beaver canal 
is in progress by a chartered company. It 
commences near the town of Bolivar, on the 
Ohio and Erie canal, in Tuscarawas county, 
and passes along near the line of Stark and 
Carrol counties, to the Little Beaver in Co- 
lumbiana county, and from thence to the Ohio 
river. 

The Mad River and Sandusky rail-road 
will extend from Dayton on the Miami canal, 
to Sandusky, through Springfield, Urbanna, 
Bellefontaine, Upper Sandusky, Tiffin, and 
down the valley of the Sandusky river, to lake 
Erie. The route is remarkably favorable for 
locomotive power. Length 153 miles; esti- 
mated cost, gl 1,000 per mile. The work was 
commenced in September, 1835. 

The Erie and Ohio rail-road is intended 
to be constructed from Ashtabula on the lake, 
through Warren to Wellsville, on the Ohio 
river, a distance of ninety miles. Other 
rail-roads are in contemplation in this State, 
the most important of which is the Great 
Western rail-road, from Boston, by Worces- 
ter, Springfield, and Stockbridge, through 
New York, by Albany, Utica and Buffalo, 
along the summit ridge, dividing the northern 
from the southern waters, through Pennsyl- 



216 peck's guide. 

vania, Ohio, to intersect the Wabash and 
Erie canal at Lafayette, in Indiana. From 
thence provision is already made for it to pass 
to the eastern boundary of Illinois, from 
which, a company has been recently charter- 
ed to construct it across the State of Illinois 
by Danville, Shelbyville, Hillsborough to 
Alton on the Mississippi. It must be some 
untoward circumstance, that shall prevent this 
splendid work from being completed the v/hole 
lenss;th, before 1850. 

The project of a rail-road from Cincinnati, 
to Charleston in South Carolina, has been 
entered upon with great spirit in the South, 
and in all the States more directly concerned 
in the enterprise. It will, undoubtedly, be 
carried into eflect. 

The State of Ohio has incorporated a num- 
ber of turnpike companies, some of which 
have gone into operation. The first is near 
the north-eastern corner of the State, from 
Pierpont, through Monroe and Salem town- 
ships to the mouth of Conncaut creek, 
sixteen miles long. The second is the 
Trumbull and Ashtabula turnpike, leading 
from Warren to Ashtabula, forty-eight miles. 
The third is from the town of Wooster, 
through Medina to Clcaveland, fifty-one miles. 
The fourth is from Columbus to Sandusky, 
106 miles, now in the course of construction. 
Another from Cincinnati, through Lehanon 
and Columbus, to Wooster, has been com- 
menced on the McAdamized plan, but is not 



OHIO. 217 

completed. A McAdam turnpike from Cin- 
cinnati to Chillicothe is in progress. The 
national road, constructed by the general 
government, and transferred to the State, 
passes from Wheeling, through Columbus, to 
the Indiana line. 

Manufactures. The principal factory for 
woollen goods is at Steubenville. A number 
of cotten factories are in the towns along the 
Ohio river. Furnaces for smelting iron ore 
are in operation in the counties bordering on 
the Ohio, near the mouth of the Scioto. 
Glass is manufactured in several towns. Con- 
siderable salt is made on the Muskingum below 
Zanesville, on the Scioto, and on Yellow 
creek above Steubenville. About half a mil^ 
lion of bushels were made in the State, in 
1830. 

Cincinnati rivals Pittsburgh in the number, 
variety and extent of its manufacturing oper- 
ations. 

In every town and village through the State, 
mechanics' shops are established for the man- 
ufacture of all articles of ordinary use. 

Cities and Toicns. To enter upon minute 
descriptions, or even name all these, would 
much exceed the bounds of this work. 

Cincinnati is the great commercial empo- 
rium of the State. It is pleasantly situated 
on the right or northern bank of the Ohio 
river, about equidistant from Pittsburgh and 
its mouth, in north latitude 39° 06', and 
west longitude from Washington city 7° 25'. 



218 peck's guide. 

Directly fronting the city to the south, and 
on the opposite side of the Ohio river, are the 
flourishing manufacturing towns of Newport 
and Covington, which are separated by the 
Licking river, of Kentucky, which enters 
the Ohio directly opposite the Cincinnati 
landing. 

The wharf arrangements are the most con- 
venient for lading and unlading goods at all 
stages of the water, to be found on our west- 
ern rivers. The town site is beautifully sit- 
uated on the first and second banks of the 
river, — the former of which is above ordinary 
high water, and the latter gently rises sixty 
or seventy feet higher, and spreads out into a 
semicircular plain, surrounded with elevated 
blufl^s. 

Cincinnati was founded in 1789, but did not 
grow rapidly till about 1808. The progressive 
increase of population will appear from the 
following table: 

In Population. i In Popnliiiinn. 

1810, 2,3201826, ; . . . 16,230 

1813, 4,000 1830, 26,515 

1819, 10,000 1835, estimated,. .31,000 

1824, 12,016 

Add the adjoining towns of Covington and 
Newport, whose interests are identified, and 
the aggregate population will equal thirty-five 
thousand; and, in all reasonable probability, 
in 1850, these towns, with Cincinnati, will 
number one hundred thousand active, edu- 
cated and enterprising citizens. In 1826, ac- 



OHIO. 219 

cording to the "Picture of Cincinnati," bj 
B. Drake, Esq. and E. D. Mansfield, Esq., 
the manufacturing industry alone, according 
to an accurate statistical examination, amount- 
ed to $1,800,000. At that time, there were 
not more than fifteen steam-engines employed 
in manufactures, in the city. At the close of 
1835, there were more than fifty in successful 
operation, besides four or five in Newport and 
Covington. " More than one hundred steam- 
engines, about two hundred and forty cotton- 
gins, upwards of twenty sugar-mills, and 
twenty-two steam-boats (many of them of the 
largest size), have been built or manufactured 
in Cincinnati during the year 1835."* Hence 
the productive industry of Cincinnati, Coving- 
ton and Newport, for 1835, may be estimated 
at $5,000,000. By a laborious investigation, 
at the close of 1826, by the same writer, the 
exports of that year were about $1,000,000 in 
value. A similar inquiry induced him to place 
the exports of 1832 at $4,000,000. The esti- 
mate for 1835 is $6,000,000. 

To enumerate all the public and private 
edifices deserving notice, would extend this 
article to too great a length. The court- 
house, four market-houses, banks, college, 
Catholic Athenaeum, two medical colleges, 
mechanics' institute, two museums, hospital 
and lunatics' asylum, the Woodward high 

* See a valuable statistical article, by B, Drake, Esq., in 
the Western Monthly Magazine, for January, 1836, enti- 
tled, " Cincinnati, at the close of 1835." 



220 peck's guide. 

school, ten or twelve large edifices for free 
schools, hotels, and between twenty-five and 
thirty houses for public worship, some of 
which are elegant, deserve notice. The type 
foundry and printing-press manufactory, is 
one of the most extensive in the United 
States. Here is machinery, lately invented, 
for casting printer's types, exceeding, per- 
haps, any thing in the world. Printing, and 
the manufacture of books, are extensively 
carried on in this city. Here are six large 
bookstores, several binderies, twelve or fifteen 
printing-offices, from which are issued ten 
weekly, fourtri-weekly, four daily, fourmonth- 
lyand one quarterly publications. Two medical 
publications, of a highly respectable charac- 
ter, are issued. The Western Monthly Mag- 
azine is too well known to need special notice 
here. The Cincinnati Mirror is a respectable 
literary periodical. The Family Magazine 
deserves notice. The Presbyterians, Baptists, 
Methodists, Roman Catholics, and, perhaps, 
other sects, have each their weekly paper, 
respectable in size and character. During 
four months, in 1831, there were issued from 
the Cincinnati press, 86,000 volumes, of 
which 20,300 were original works. In the 
same period, the periodical press issued 
243,200 printed sheets. The business has 
increased greatly since that time. 

The " College of Professional Teachers," is 
an institution formed at the convention of 
teachers, held in this city, in October, 1832. 



OHIO. 221 

Its objects are to unite the professional instruc- 
tors of youth throughout the Western coun- 
try in the cause in which they are engaged, 
and to elevate the character of the profession. 
Their meetings are held on the first Monday 
in October annually. Lectures are given, 
discussions held, reports made, and a respect- 
able volume of transaction published annual- 
ly. There is no doubt that much good will 
result to the cause of education in the West, 
from this annual convocation. 

Law School. An institution of this char- 
acter has been organized, under the manage- 
ment of Hon, J. C. Wright, and other gen- 
tlemen of the bar. 

Of Medical Schools there are two, at the 
heads of which are gentlemen of high char- 
acter and attainments in their profession. 

The Mechanics' Inslitiite is designed for the 
diffusion of scientific knowledge among the 
mechanics and citizens generally, by means 
of popular lectures and mutual instruction. 
The Cincinnati Lycsum was formed for the 
purpose of useful instruction and entertain- 
ment, by means of popular lectures and 
debates. The Acaclemic Institute is designed 
to aid the cause of education and elevate the 
profession amongst the teachers in Cincinna- 
ti. Its meetings are monthly. The Mienxum 
is an institution under the management of 
Roman ^Catholic priests. The college edi- 
fice is a splendid and permanent building, of 
great capacity. The Woodward High School 



222 peck's guide. 

was founded by the late William Woodward. 
The fund yields an income of about ^2000 
annually. It is conducted by four professors, 
and has about one hundred and twenty stu- 
dents. The corporation has established a sys- 
tem of free schools, designed to extend the 
benefits of primary education to all classes, 
and ten or twelve large edifices have been 
erected for the purpose. I regret the want of 
documents to give particulars of this liberal 
and praiseworthy enterprise, which reflects 
much honor upon the city and its honorable 
corporation. In 1833, there were twenty 
public schools for males and females, and two 
thousand pupils. Many excellent private 
schools and seminaries, some of deserved 
celebrity, are sustained by individual enter- 
prise. 

Columbus, the political capital of the 
State, and nearly in the centre of the State, 
is a beautiful city, on the east bank of the 
Scioto river. In 1812, it was covered with a 
dense forest, when it was selected by the leg- 
islature for the permanent seat of govern- 
ment. The public buildings are a state-house, 
a court-house for the Supreme Court, a 
building for the public offices, a market-house, 
&c., all of brick. The State penitentiary is 
here, for which a new substantial building is 
constructing, and an Asylum for the deaf and 
dumb, sustained by legislative aid. 

Chillicothe, Cleaveland, Zanesville, Steu- 
benville, Circleville and many others, are 
large and flourishing towns. 



OHIO. 223 

Education. Charters for eight or ten col- 
leges and collegiate institutions have been 
granted. Congress has granted 92,800 acres 
of public land to this State, for colleges and 
academies. One township (23,040 acres), 
and a very valuable one, has been given to 
the Miami university, at Oxford. Two town- 
ships of land (46,080 acres), though of infe- 
rior quality, have been given to the Ohio 
university. Academies have been established 
in most of the principal towns. *A common 
school system has been established by the 
legislature. Each township has been divided 
into school districts. Taxes are levied to the 
amount of three fourths of a mill upon the 
dollar of taxable property in the State, which, 
with the interest accruing from the different 
school funds already noticed, are applied to- 
wards the expenses of tuition. Five school 
examiners are appointed in each county, by 
the court of common pleas, who are to ex- 
amine teachers. The governor, in his recent 
message, speaks of the common school sys- 
tem as languishing in proportion to other 
improvements. 

Fo7nn of Government. The legislative au- 
thority is vested in a Senate and House of 
Representatives; both of which, collectively, 
are styled the General Assembly, The mem- 
bers of both branches are chosen by counties, 
or by districts composed of counties, accord- 
ing to population. The representatives are 
chosen annually, the senators biennially. 



224 peck's guide. 

The General Assembly has the sole power of 
enacting laws; the signature or assent of the 
governor not being necessary in any case 
whatever. The judiciary system comprises 
three grades of courts; — the Supreme Court, 
courts of common pleas, and Justices' 
courts. The justices of the peace are chosen 
triennially, by the people. The executive 
authority is vested in a governor, who is 
elected biennially, and must be thirty years 
of age, and have resided in the State at least 
four years. He is commander-in-chief of all 
the militia, and commissions all officers in 
the State, both civil and military. Each free, 
white male citizen of the United States, of 
twenty-one years of age, and a resident of the 
State one year preceding an election, is 
entitled to a vote in all elections. 

The following shows the professions, occu- 
pations, and nativity of the members of the 
legislature of Ohio, during the present winter 
(1335-6), and is about a proportionate esti- 
mate for other Western States: — 

llie members of the Ohio legislature, as to 
their occupations and professions, are: — farm- 
ers, fifty-eight; lawyers, seventeen; merchants 
thirteen; doctors, five; printers, three; sur- 
veyors, two; millers, two; masons, two; car- 
penters, two; painter, one; watch-maker, one; 
blacksmith, one; house joiner, one. 

Their nativity is as follows: — Ohio, se\en; 
Pennsylvania, thirty; Virginia, twenty-two; 
New England States, seventeen; Maryland, 



OHIO. 225 

eight; New York, seven; New Jersey, four; 
Kentucky, three; Delaware, two; North 
Carolina, one; Ireland, five; England, one; 
Germany, one. 

The youngest member in the Senate, is 
thirty-three years of age, and the oldest fifty- 
six. In the House, the youngest twenty-six; 
oldest sixty-seven. Under the constitution, 
a senator must be thirty; and a member of 
the House, twenty-six. 

Antiquities. Mu:h has been said about the 
antiquities of Ohio, — the fortifications, arti- 
ficial mounds, and military works, supposed 
to indicate a race of civilized people, as the 
possessors of the country, anterior to the In- 
dian nations. At Marietta, Circleville, Paint 
creek, and some other p-aces, are, doubtless, 
antiquities, that exhibited upon their first dis- 
covery, strong marks of a military purpose. 
I have no doubt, however, that credulity and 
enthusiasm have greatly exaggerated many 
appearances in the West, and magnified them 
into works of vast enterprise and labor. 
Mounds of earth are found in every country 
on the globe, of all forms and sizes; and why 
should they not exist in the western valley ? 
Mr. Flint states that he has seen a horse-shoe 
dug up at the depth of thirty-five feet below 
the surface, with nails in it, and much eroded 
by rust. He mentions also a sword, v/hich is 
said to be preserved as a curiosity, but 
which he had not seen, found enclosed in the 
wood of the roots of a tree, which could not 



226 



PECK S GUIDE. 



have been less than five hundred years old I 
Those who delight especially in the marvel- 
lous, may consult the "Description of the 
Antiquities discovered in the State of Ohio 
and other Western States, by Caleb Atwater, 
Esq." 

Historij. The first permanent settlement of 
Ohio, was made at Marietta, April 7, 1788, 
by forty-seven persons from Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut. This was 
the nucleus around which has grown up the 
populous State of Ohio. Amongst the most 
active promoters of this colony, were those 
called then "The Ohio Company." The 
next settlement was that of Symmes' purchase, 
made at Columbia, six miles above Cincinnati, 
in November, 1789, by Major »Stites and 
twenty-five others, under the direction of 
Judge Symmes. A colony of French emi- 
grants settled at Gallipolis, in 1791. In 1796, 
SLettlements were made by New England emi- 
grants at Cleaveland and Conneaut, on the 
southern shore of lake Erie. The intermedi- 
ate country gradually filled up by emigration 
from various parts of the United States, 
Some slight diversity exists, in difi'erent sec- 
tions of the State, in manners, customs and 
feelings, amongst the people, in accordance 
with the States or countries from which they 
or their fathers emigrated. These shades of 
character will become blended, and the next 
generation will be Ohions, or, to use their own 
native cognomen, Buckeyes. 



OHIO. 227 

The first territorial legislature convened at 
Cincinnati, in September, 1790. The gov- 
ernor having exercised his right of veto in re- 
lation to the removal of a county seat, an un- 
happy collision followed, and, upon framing 
the State constitution, in November, 1802, 
the convention prevented the governor of the 
State from ever exercising the negative power 
upon acts of the legislature. 

Date of Organization of some of the oldest Counties. 

Washington, July 27, 1788 

Hamilton, Jan. 2, 1790 

Adams, July 10, 1797 

Jefferson, July 29, 1797 

Ross, Aug. 20, 1798 

Trumbull, Julv 18, 1800 

Clermont, Dec. 6, 1800 

Belmont, Sept. 7, 1801 

These were all organized under the territo 
rial government. 



CHAPTER XI 



INDIANA. 

Boundaries and Extent — Counties — Population at different 
Periods — Face of the Country — Sketch of each County 
— Form of Government — Finances — Internal Improve- 
ments Manufactures Education — History — General 

Remarks. 

LexXGth two luindred and forty, breadth 
one hundred and fifty miles; between 37° 48' 
north latitude, and 7° 45' and 11° west longi- 
tude; bounded north by the State of Michigan 
and lake Michigan, east by Ohio, south by the 
Ohio river, which separates it from Kentucky, 
and west by Illinois. It contains about 37,000 
square miles, equal to 23,680,000 acres. 

It is naturally subdivided into the hilly por- 
tion, bordering on the Ohio; the level, timber- 
ed portion, extending across the middle of the 
State; the Wabash country, on that river; and 
the northern portion, bordering on the State 
of Michigan and the lake. The two last por- 
tions include nearly all the prairie country. 

For civil purposes, this State has been di- 
vided into counties, and those subdivided into 
townships. 



[NDIANA. 



229 



Table of Counties, Seats of Justice, Sfc. 



Counties 




Allen, 

Bartholomew 

Boon, ,...•. 

Carroll 

Cass, . 

Clark, 

Clay, 

Clinton 

Crawford 

Daviess 

Dearborn, 

Decatur, 

Delaware 

Dubois, 

Elkhart, 

Fayette, 

Floyd 

Fountain 

Franklin. 

Gibson, 

Grant, . 

Greene 

Hamilton, 

Hancock, 

Harrison, 

Hendricks, 

Henry, 

Huntington 

Jackson 

Jefferson, 

Jennings, 

Johnson, 

Knox, 

La Porte 



Seats of Justice. 



Fort Wayne. 

Columbus. 

Lebanon. 

Delphi. 

Logansport. 

Charlestown. 

Bowling Green. 

Frankfort. 

Fredonia. 

Washington. 

Lawrenceville. 

Greensburgh. 

Muncytown. 

Jasper. 

Goshen. 

Connersville. 

New Albany. 

Covington. 

Brookville. 

Princeton. 

INIarion. 

Bloomfield. 

Noblesville. 

Greenfield. 

Cory don. 

Danville. 

Newcastle. 

Brownstown. 

Madison. 

Vernon. 

Franklin 

Vincennes. 

La Porte. 



230 



PECK S GUIDE. 



Counties. 



Lagrange, .... 
Lawrence, .... 

Madison, 

Marion, 

Martin, 

Miami, 

Monroe, 

Montgomery, . . 

Morgan, 

Orange, 

Owen, 

Parke, 

Perry, 

Pike, . 

Posey, 

Putnam, 

Randolph, . . . 

Ripley, 

Rush, 

Scott, 

Shelby, 

Spencer, 

St. Joseph, . . . 

Sullivan, 

Switzerland, . . 
Tippecanoe, . . 

Union, 

Vanderburgh, , 
Vermilion, . . . . 

Vigo, 

Wabash, . . . , 

Warren, 

Warrick, 

Washington, , . 
Wayne, 



m E 




1832 

1818 1 

1823 

1821 

1818 

1832 

1818 

1822 

1821 

1815 

1818 

1821 

1814 

1816 

1814 

1821 

1818 

1818 

1821 

1817 

1821 

1818 

1830 

1816 

1814 

1826 

1821 

1818 

1823 

1818 

1882 

1828 

1813 

1813 

1810 



380 
460 
420 
440 
340 
330 
560 
500 
530 
378 
380 
450 
400 
430 
500 
490 
440 
400 
400 
200 
430 
400 
740 
430 
300 
500 
224 
225 
280 
400 
I 380 
I 350 
412 
I 550 
1420 



Seats of Justice. 



6,578 
7,376 ! 
5,579 
7,909 I 
4,060 
7,534 
3,378 ; 
2,464 
6,883 
8,195 
3,912 
3,957 
9,918 
3,097 
6,294 
3,187 
287 
4,696 
7,111 
7,161 
7,957 
2,610 
5,706 
5,737 

2,854 

2,973 

13,072 

23,344 



Mongoquinon. 

Bedford. 

Andersontown. 

Indianopolis. 

Mount Pleasant 

Miamisport. 

Bloomington. 

Crawfortlsville. 

Martinsville. 

Paoli. 

Spencer. 

Rockville. 

Rome. 

Petersburgh. 

Mount Vernon. 

Greencastle. 

Winchester. 

Versailles. 

Rushville. 

Lexington. 

Shelbyville. 

Rockport. 

South Bend. 

Merom. 

Vevay. 

Lafayette. 

Liberty. 

Evansville. 

Newport. 

Terre Haute. 

Williamsport. 
Boonville. 
Salem. 
Centreville. 



INDIANA. 



231 



The total population is 1830 was 341,682; 
the estimated population in the message of 
Gov. Noble, to the legislature, December, 
1835, was 600,000. 

The counties in which the population has 
not been given in the foregoing table, have 
been formed since 1830. Probably other new 
counties, along the waters of the Wabash and 
Kankakee, have been formed recently, of 
which no intelligence has been had by the 
author. The counties in the northern portion 
of the State have increased the most in popu- 
lation since 1830. 

For electing representatives to Congress, 
the State is divided into seven electoral dis- 
tricts: for judicial purposes, it is divided into 
eight circuits, in each of which there is a cir- 
cuit judge, who, together with two associates 
in each county, holds the circuit courts. 

Population at Different Periods, 

In Population. I From 

1800 (excluding 1800 to 1810, 

Illinois), .... 2,64l|l810 " 1820, 

1825, 

1830, 



2,641 1810 

1810, 24,520 1820 

1820, 147,178 1825 



1825, 222,000 

1830, 341,582 

1835, estimated, 600,000 



1830 " 1835, . 



Increase, 

21,879 
122,658 

74,822 
119,582 
258,418 



In 1825, the number of voters was 36,977, 
and the number of paupers, 217. 

Face of the Country, <^t. The counties bor- 
dering on the Ohio river are hilly; sometimes 
abrupt, precipitous, stony, and occasionally 



232 peck's guide. 

degenerating into knobs and ravines. Com- 
mencing at the mouth of White river, on the 
Wabash, and following up that stream, on its 
east fork, and thence along the Muscatatack, 
through Jennings and Ripley counties, to 
Lawrenceville, and you leave the rough and 
hilly portion of Indiana to the right. Much 
of the country we have denominated hilly is 
rich, fertile land, even to the summit of the 
hills. On all the streams are strips of rich 
alluvion of exhaustless fertility. The interior, 
on the two White rivers and tributaries, is 
moderately undulating, tolerably rich soil, 
and much of it heavily timbered with oaks of 
various species, poplar, beech, sugar-tree, 
walnut, hickory, elm and other varieties com- 
mon to the West. There is much level, table 
land, between the streams. Along the Wa- 
bash, below Terre Haute, is an undulating 
surface, diversified with forest and prairie, 
having a soil of middling quality, interspersed 
with some very rich tracts. Above Terre 
Haute, along the Wabash and its tributa- 
ries, the land in general is first rate; a large 
proportion forest, interspersed with beautiful 
prairies. The timber consists of oak of va- 
rious species, poplar, ash, walnut, cherry, 
sugar-tree, buckeye, hickory, beech, sassa- 
fras, linden, honey-locust, with some cotton- 
wood, sycamore, hackberry and mulberry on 
the bottom lands. The undergrowth is spice- 
bush, hazel, plum, crab-aj)ple, hawthorn and 
vines. Along the northern part of the State 



INDIANA. 233 

are extensive prairies and tracts of barrens, 
witli groves of" various kinds of timber, and 
skirts of burr-oak. Towards lake Michigan, 
and along the Kankakee and St. Joseph rivers, 
are lakes, swamps and marshes. 

Rivers. The Ohio meanders along the 
south-eastern and southern parts of the State 
for 350 miles. The east and west forks of 
White river, and their tributaries, water the 
interior counties for 100 miles in extent. 
They are both navigable streams for flat-boats 
during the spring and autumn floods. Th€ 
Wabash river has several heads, which inter- 
lock with the waters of the St. Joseph and St. 
Mary's, which form the Maumee of lake 
Erie. It runs a south-westwardly course across 
the State, to Warren county, — thence south- 
wardly to Vigo county, where it becomes the 
boundary between Indiana and Illinois, along 
which it meanders to the Ohio, which it enters 
twelve miles above Shawneetown. The St. 
Joseph of lake Michigan, already noticed 
under the State of Michigan, makes a curve 
into Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, forming 
what is called the South Bend. The Kankakee, 
which is the longest branch of Illinois river, 
rises in Indiana, near the South Bend. Some 
of its head waters interlock with those of Tip- 
pecanoe, a prominent tributary of the Wabash. 

Sketch of each County. The following sketch 

of each county, its streams, surface, soil and 

minerals, has been made and collated with 

much labor, from an excellent Gazetteer of 

11 



234 peck's guide. 

this State, published in 183.3, by Douglass & 
Maguire, of Indianopolis, from personal ob- 
servation of many of the older counties, and 
from an extensive correspondence. 

Allen. — Streams; Saint Joseph's and Saint 
Mary's, which form the Maumee of lake Erie 
(navigable for small keel-boats), and numer- 
ous creeks; generally heavily timbered; soil 
clay, sandy on the rivers. 

Barlliolemew. — Streams; Driftwood, Clif- 
ty. Flat Rock, and Salt Creeks, — all mill 
streams. Surface, level; soil, a rich loam, 
mixed with sand and gravel; the western 
part hilly, with clay soil. Minerals; lime- 
stone, coal, iron ore, red ochre. 

Boon. — Watered by the tributaries of Ra- 
coon and Sugar Creeks. Surface, level, — 
soil rich. 

Carroll. — Streams; Wabash river, Deer, 
Rock, and branches of Wildcat creeks. Con- 
siderable timber, — some prairies, of which 
Deer prairie is the largest and most beautiful. 
Considerable quantities of limestone on the 
surface; a remarkable spring near Delphi, — 
the water reddish. 

Cass. — Streams are Wabash and Eel rivers, 
which unite at Logansport, — the head of 
steam-boat navigation of the W^abash. Sur- 
face, generally level, rolling towards the 
rivers with abrupt bluffs; soil, near the rivers, 
a mixture of loam and sand; at a distance 
from them, flat and clayey. Large proportion 
forest land, — some prairies. 



INDIANA. 235 

Clark. — Silver and Fourteen Mile creeks 
furnish excellent mill sites. Ohio river on 
the south. Surface, rolling and hilly; soil, 
loam, mixed with sand. Minerals; limestone, 
gypsum, water lime, marble, salt, iron ore, 
copperas, alum. 

Clay. — Eel river and tributaries. Surface 
moderately undulating; soil various, chiefly 
clay and loam, and a mixture of sand, in 
places; timber predominates, — some prairies, 

Clinton. — Watered by the South, Middle, 
and Kilmore's Forks of Wildcat creek. Sur- 
face, moderately undulating, or level: Twelve 
Mile prairie extends from south-west to north- 
east twelve miles, and is three fourths of a 
mile wide. The remaindertimbered land. Soil, 
a rich sandy loam, and exceedingly fertile, 

Crauford. — Waters; the Ohio and Blue 
rivers, — plenty of water power, and excellent 
springs. Surface, hilly and broken; in places, 
tolerably productive; in others, soil thin and 
rocky. A timbered region, and abundance of 
limestone. 

Daviess. — Streams; Forks of White river, 
with its tributaries. Smother's, Prairie, Veal, 
Aikman's and Sugar creeks. Level bottoms 
on the rivers — sometimes inundated; undula- 
ting on the high grounds. Soil on the West 
Fork, sandy; much timber, — an extensive 
tract of sugar tree; some prairies. The 
county destitute of rock near the surface; 
plenty of lime and sandstone in the bed of 
West Fork of White river, at the rapids. 
Plenty of coal. 



236 peck's guide. 

Dearborn. — Watered by the Great Miami, 
Whitewater, Laugliery, Hogan's and Tan- 
ner's creeks. Surface hilly and broken, with 
rich, level, bottom lands, on the Miami. Soil, 
one fourth first rate, one fourth second rate, 
— remainder inferior. A timbered region. 

Decatur. — Flat Rock, Clifty, and Sand 
creeks, are all good mill streams. Surface, 
generally level, — some parts undulating; soil, 
loam, with a substratum of clay; well adapt- 
ed to grain, — timbered. Minerals; limestone, 
some iron ore and coal. 

Delaware. — Streams; Missisinawa, and 
West Fork of White river; surface tolera- 
bly level; soil, loam, mixed with sand. Min- 
erals; some limestone, and granite bowlders 
scattered over the surface. 

Dubois. — Streams; East Fork of White 
river, Patoka and Anderson creeks. Surface 
rolling, — some parts hilly and broken, — some 
level tracts; soil, rich and sandy loam near 
the streams. Minerals; sandrock and coal. 

Elkhart. — Watered by St. Joseph of lake 
Michigan, Elkhart and tributaries. Surface, 
generally level, — a portion undulating; soil 
various, but generally rich; forest and prairie, 
both wet and dry. 

Faijetle. — Watered by the West Fork of 
Whitewater, and a small lake in the north. 
Surface, undulating; soil, on the high ground, 
clayey, and a mixture of sand, — on the bottom 
lands, a rich, sandy loam. Limestone found 
in masses and quarries. 



INDIANA. 237 

Floyd. — Watered by the Ohio river, Silver 
creek, and some head branches of Big and 
Little Indian creeks. Surface various, — a 
range of knobs, — east of these knobs, it is 
gentl_y undulating; soil inferior. Minerals; 
shale, soft sandstone, limestone, freestone, 
iron ore, and some traces of coal. A boiling 
spring, from which is emitted an inflammable 
gas. 

Fountain. — Watered by the Wabash river, 
and Coal and Shawnee creeks, with numerous 
mill sites. Surface, gently undulating; soil, 
a black loam, mixed with sand and very rich. 
Minerals; coal, and some sandstone. 

Franklin. — Watered by the East and West 
Forks of Whitewater. Surface, on the east- 
ern part level, — western, rolling; soil, in the 
central and northern parts, a black loam, — in 
the south-west, tiiin and clayey. 

Gibson. — Watered by the Wabash, White, 
and Patoka rivers. Surface, rolling and tim- 
bered; soil, generally a sandy loam, and pro- 
ductive. 

Grant. — Watered by the Missisinawa and 
tributaries. Surface level, — generally heavily 
timbered; soil, clay and loam on the table 
lands, — sandy on the river bottoms. 

Green. — Watered by White and Eel rivers, 
and Richland creek; soil, on the rivers, a rich 
loam, — on the bluffs, sandy, — east side, hilly, 
— west side, level. White river is navigable. 
Minerals; lime and sandstone, coal, and some 
iron ore. 



238 peck's guide. 

Hamilton. — The streams are White river, 
and Cicero, Coal, Stoney, and Fall creeks. 
Generally forest, — some lew prairies; soil, in 
places, clay, — more generally, a sandy loam. 
Minerals; lime, and some soft sandrock. 

Hancock. — Watered by Blue river. Sugar 
and Brandyvvine creeks, with excellent mill 
sites, and well supplied with springs. Sur- 
face, either level or gently undulating; soil, 
a rich loam, mixed with sand, — heavily tim- 
bered. 

Harrison. — Watered by Big and Little In- 
dian, and Buck creeks, and Blue river. Sur- 
face various, — some parts hilly and broken, — 
some parts undulating, — some parts level; 
soil, in the low grounds, a rich loam, — on the 
high grounds, calcareous and gravelly. A 
large tract of "barrens" in the west. Min- 
erals; a quarry and several caves of black 
flint, salt licks, limestone. 

Hendrichs. — The waters are White Lick, 
and branches of Eel river, with good mill 
sites. Surface, gently rolling, and timbered 
with the varieties of the Wabash country; 
soil, a mixture of clay, loam and sand. 

Harry. — Watered by Blue river. Flat Rock 
and Fall creeks. Surface, in some places, 
broken, — in most parts, level; soil, a mixture 
of sand with loam and clay. Plenty of springs 
and mill sites. Mostly timbered, but several 
tracts of prairie. 

Huntington. — The streams are Salamania, 
Little river, and Wabash. Surface, on the 



INDIANA. , 239 

rivers, level, — back, gently undulating; soil, 
loam and clay, with a slight mixture of sand. 
Several tracts of prairie, but generally forest 
land. 

Jackson. — Watered by Indian, Driftwood, 
White, Muscatatack, and Gum creeks. Sur- 
face, rolling and in places hilly; soil, clay 
and loam, mixed with sand. In the forks of 
the creeks, sand predominates. On the west 
and north-west, inclined to clay. 

Jefferson. — W^atered by the Ohio river, 
Indian-Kentucky and Big creeks. Surface 
various; along the river and creeks, low allu- 
vion; soil, loam mixed with sand. The bot- 
toms are bounded by precipitous bluffs, with 
towering cliffs of limestone. The table lands 
are undulating, and the soil inclined to clay. 
Timber various. Abounds with limestone, 
masses of freestone, and scattered granite 
bowlders. 

Johnson. — W^atered on the eastern side by- 
Blue river, and Sugar and Young's creeks, — 
on the western side by Indian, Crooked, and 
Stott's creeks. Surface, gently undulating; 
soil, a rich, black, sandy loam; timbered. 
Minerals; masses of freestone, and scattered 
granite bowlders. 

Jennings. — Watered by Graham's Fork, 
and the North Fork of the Muscatatack. 
Surface, in some parts level, some parts very 
hilly; soil, calcareous, rich and productive; 
tim])er of all varieties; abounds with lime- 
stone. 



240 peck's guide. 

Knox. — The Wabash on the west side, — 
White river south, — the West Fork of White 
river east, — and Maria and Duchain creeks, 
interior. Surface undulating; soil, somewhat 
various, — a rich loan) in places, — sandy in 
other places; — some tracts of prairie, but 
timber predominates. 

Lagrange. — Watered by Pigeon and Crook- 
ed rivers. Surface, gently rolling; northern 
part extensive prairies; southern portion chief- 
ly forest; soil, loam and sand. 

La Porte. — Watered by the Kankakee, 
Galena, and Trail creek, at the mouth of 
which is Michigan city and a harbor for lake 
Michigan commerce. Surface, gently undu- 
lating; abounds with large, rich prairies, with 
groves of timber, and lakes of clear water 
interspersed; soil, a sandy loam, rich and 
productive. 

Lawrence. — Watered by Salt, Indian, 
Guthrie's, Beaver, and Leatherwood creeks, 
and excellent springs. Surface, generally 
hilly, — some level lands; — soil, on the water 
courses, sandy, — back from the streams, loam 
and clay. Abounds with limestone. 

Madison. — The West Fork of White river 
is navigable. The other streams are Killbuck, 
Pipe, Lick and Fall creeks. Surface, gener- 
ally level, with some broken land near the 
streams; timbered, with a wet prairie, seven 
miles long and three fourths of a mile wide; 
soil, sand, mixed with clay and loam, — pro- 
ductive. Minerals; lime and freestone. 



241 



marble that polishes well, and some traces of 
iron ore. 

Mention. — West Fork of White river passes 
through it, on which is situated Indianopolis, 
the capital of the State. Fall creek is an ex- 
cellent mill stream. Surface, chiefly level 
forest land; soil, a deep black loam, with a 
mixture of sand. Large granite bowlders are 
scattered over the surface. 

Martin. — The East Fork of White river 
passes through it, and receives Lost river 
from the left, and Indian and Flint creeks from 
the right. Surface, on the east side of White 
river, broken and hilly; soil, clay and loam; 
on the west side, level, or gently undulating, 
with portions of barrens and prairie land; soil, 
clay and loam, mixed with sand. Minerals; 
coal in large quantities, lime, sand and free- 
stone. 

Miami. — The Wabash and Eel rivers pass 
through it, and the Missisinawa comes from 
the east, and enters the Wabash about the 
centre of the county. The Wabash and Erie 
canal passes through it. Surface, gently un- 
dulating and beautiful, — chiefly forest, and 
interspersed with small prairies; soil, the rich- 
est in the State, of loam, clay and sand inter- 
mixed. 

Monroe. — Streams; Salt, Clear, Indian, 
Racoon, Richland, and Bean-blossom creeks, 
— pure springs. Surface, hilly and undula- 
ting; soil, second rate. Minerals; limestone 
rock, salt licks, with manufactories of salt. 



242 peck's guide. 

Montgomery. — The heads of Shawnee and 
Coal creeks in the north-west, — Sugar creek 
in the centre, — and Big Racoon on the south- 
eastern part. Surface, gently undulating; 
the northern portion prairie, interspersed with 
groves, with a rich soil of black loam, mixed 
with sand, — the middle and southern portions 
timbered. Excellent quarries of rock in the 
middle, — granite bowlders in the northern 
parts. 

Morgan. — White river, which is navigable. 
The mill streams are White Lick, Sycamore, 
Highland, and Lamb's creeks on the west 
side, and Crooked, Stott's, Clear, and Indian 
creeks on the east side. Surface, generally 
rolling, — some parts hilly; soil, calcareous 
and clayey, — on the bottoms, a rich sandy 
loam. Minerals; limestone, and some iron 
ore. 

Orange. — Streams; Lost river, French 
Lick, and Patoka. Surface, hilly and broken, 
— limestone rock, — springs of water, of which 
Half-moon and French Lick are curiosities. 
On the alluvial bottoms, the soil is loamy, — on 
the hills, calcareous, and inclined to clay. 
Excellent stones for grit, equal to the Turkey 
oil stones are found in this county. 

Owen. — W^atered by the West Fork of 
White river, with its tributaries, Racoon, 
Indian, Mill, Rattlesnake, and Fish creeks. 
The falls of Eel river furnish the best water 
power in the State. Surface rolling; soil, in 
some places a dark loam,^ — in others clayey 



INDIANA. 243 

and calcareous. Minerals; immense bodies of 
lime rock, and some iron ore. 

Parke. — Watered by the Big and Little 
Racoon, and Sugar creeks (with excellent 
mill sites), all of which enter the Wabash on 
its western side. Surface, generally level, — 
some beautiful prairies, but mostly forest land; 
soil, a loam, mixed with sand, and rich. Mine- 
rals; lime and sandstone, coal and iron ore. 

Perrij. — Watered by the Ohio river, with 
Anderson's, Bear, Poison, and Oil creeks in- 
terior. Some level land, with a rich, sandy 
loam, on the streams, — all the high lands very 
broken; hilly, with a clayey, sterile soil. 
Minerals; immense bodies of limestone, grind- 
stone quarries, iron ore and coal. 

Pike — has White river on the north, and 
Patoka creek through the centre. Surface 
all forest land and undulating; soil, eastern 
part clay and sand, — western, a rich, dark 
loam, mixed with sand, — some swampy land. 
Minerals; limestone and coal. 

Posey. — ^^Tn the forks of the Ohio and Wa- 
bash, with Big, Mill, and McFadden's creeks 
interior, and good springs. Surface, rolling, 
and all forest land; soil, a sandy loam, and 
produces well. Minerals; sand, and lime- 
stone, and coal. 

Putnam — has Racoon creek, and Eel 
river, with abundant water privileges, and fine 
springs. Surface, gently undulating; soil, in 
places calcareous and clayey, — in other 
places a rich loam; limestone. 



244 peck's guide. 

Randolph. — Water courses; the West Fork 
of White river and Missisinawa and their 
tributaries, which furnish good mill sites. 
Surface, either level or gently undulating; 
soil, a rich loam, — in some places marshy; 
a small quantity of limestone, with granite 
bowlders. 

Ripley. — Watered by Laughery and Gra- 
ham's creek. Surface, level, forest land; soil 
clay, — in some parts inclines to sand, — with 
limestone abundant. 

Rush. — The streams are Big and Little Blue 
river, Big and Little Flat Rock, with excellent 
water power. Surface, moderately rolling, 
and heavily timbered; soil, loam on clay, with 
a slight mixture of sand. 

Scott. — Watered by tributaries of the Mus- 
catatack. Surface rolling, — some flat lands, 
inclining to marsh; soil, clay; minerals, lime- 
stone, iron ore, salt, sulphur and copperas. 

Shelby. — Watered by Big and Little Blue 
river, Brandywine and Sugar creeks, with 
good mill sites, — all heads of the east fork of 
White river. Surface, generally level, with 
forest land; soil, clay, mixed with loam. 

Spencer. — Ohio river, Anderson's, Little 
Pigeon and Sandy creeks. Surface tolerably 
level, and forest land; soil, clay, mixed with 
loam: minerals; coal, lime, and sandrock. 

St Joseph. — St. Joseph's river, Kankakee 
and Bobango, with some small creeks; exten- 
sive marshes on the Kankakee, and near the 
South Bend of the St. Joseph. These marshes 



INDIANA. 245 

are of vegetable formation. Surface, in some 
parts level, in others, gently undulating; soil, 
a loam, in some places sand. The north-west 
part chiefly prairies and barrens, including 
the large and fertile prairies of Portage and 
Terre Coupee. The north-eastern, barrens; 
the south-eastern, forest. Minerals, granite 
bowlders and bog-iron ore. 

Sullivan — has the Wabash river on its west- 
ern side, and Turman's, Busseron and Turtle 
creeks, interior. Surface, rolling; — some 
prairies, but generally forest land, — some 
poor barrens; soil, loam and sand; — lime, 
sandrock and coal. 

Switzerland. — The Ohio east and south, — 
Indian, Plum, Bryant's, Turtle and Grant's 
creeks, interior. Surface, various, — bottom 
lands level and rich, — then a range of precip- 
itous bluffs, with cliffs of limestone, — the table 
land rolling, with a calcareous and clayey soil. 
At Vevay are extensive vineyards, 

Tippecanoe. — Watered by the Wabash 
river, and Wildcat, Wea, Burnett's and Mill 
Branch creeks. The W^abash affords naviga- 
tion, and the other sti-eams excellent mill 
sites. Surface gently undulating, with exten- 
sive level tracts, and consists of one half prai- 
rie, one eighth barrens, and the remainder 
heavy forest land. The prairie soil is a rich, 
black loam, — the barrens cold, wet clay, — the 
forest a very rich loam and sand. 

Union. — Streams; the East Fork of W^hite 
river and its tributaries, Hanna's, Richland 



246 peck's guide. 

and Silver creeks, all of which furnish excel- 
lent mill sites. Surface, moderately rolling; 
soil, a dark loam. 

Vanderburgh. — Watered by the Ohio and 
Great Pigeon creek. Surface, high, dry, 
rolling land, with good timber, and well wa- 
tered; soil, clay and sand, of inferior quality. 
Minerals; lime and sandstone, salines and a 
mineral spring. 

Vermilion. — A long, narrow county, be- 
tween the Wabash river and the State of Il- 
linois, The streams are Wabash, Big and 
Little Vermilion, and their tributaries. Sur- 
face high, rolling land, with abrupt bluffs near 
the streams; a good proportion of prairie and 
timber; soil, rich, sandy loam, and very pro- 
ductive. Minerals; freestone, limestone, and 
large coal banks. 

Vigo. — The Wabash passes through it, — 
navigable. The mill streams are Prairie, 
Honey, Otter and Sugar creeks, but their 
waters fail in a dry season. Surface level, or 
gently undulating, with forest and prairies; 
soil, tirst rate, rich loam and sand. Minerals; 
gray limestone, freestone, and inexhaustible 
beds of coal, 

Wabash. — The Wabash river, and Wabash 
and Erie canal, pass through it, as does the 
Missisinawa, Eel, Bluegrass and Salamania. 
Surface, wide, rich bottoms on the streams; 
bluffs and ravines adjoining; table lands fur- 
ther back, either dry and rolling, or flat and 
wet, and abounding with willow swamps. 



INDIANA. 247 

Limestone rock abundant, and many excel- 
lent springs of pure water. 

Warren. — The Wabash on the south-east 
border for thirty miles, and navigated by 
steam-boats; interior streams. Rock, Red- 
wood, and Big and Little Pine creeks, all of 
which afford good mill sites; some pine and 
cedar timber. Surface generally level, with 
broken land on the bluffs of creeks; some 
forest, but the largest proportion prairie; soil, 
a rich and very fertile loam. Minerals; lime 
and excellent freestone for building purposes, 
coal, iron, lead and copper, with several old 
" diggings " and furnaces, where copper and 
lead ore have been smelted in early times, 

Warrick. — Watered by the Ohio river, Big 
and Little Pigeon and Cypress. Surface, 
rolling and hilly; soil, a sandy loam, on clay. 
Minerals; quarries of freestone, some lime- 
stone, and inexhaustible beds of coal. 

Washington. — Streams; Muscatatack, on the 
north. Rush, Twin, Highland, Delany's, Elk, 
Bear and Sinking creeks, and the heads of 
Blue and Lost rivers, and mill sites. Surface, 
diversified, from gentle undulations, to lofty 
and precipitous hills; soil, in part, second rate, 
with much of inferior quality: substratum of 
limestone; caves, hollows and sink-holes. 

Wayne. — Streams; East and West Forks of 
Whitewater, with excellent water-power for 
machinery. Surface, moderately hilly, heavy 
forest land ; soil, a rich loam ; substratum, clay. 
Minerals; generally limestone, excellent for 
building. 



248 peck's guide. 

Form of Government. This differs very little 
from that of Ohio. The constitution provides 
that an enumeration be made every five years 
of all free white male inhabitants, above the 
age of twenty-one years; and the representa- 
tion of both houses of the General Assembly 
is apportioned by such enumeration, in such 
ratio that the number of representatives shall 
never be less than thirty-six, nor exceed one 
hundred, and the number of senators not ex- 
ceeding one half nor less than one third the 
number of representatives. Every free white 
male citizen, twenty-one years of age, who 
has resided in the State one year, is entitled 
to vote; " except such as shall he enlisted in 
the army of the United States, or their allies." 
Elections are held annually, by ballot, on the 
first Monday in August. The governor, lieu- 
tenant governor and senators, hold their offi- 
ces for three years. The judiciary is vested 
in a Supreme Court, in circuit courts, probate 
courts, and justices of the peace. The Su- 
preme Court consists of three judges, who are 
appointed by the governor, with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, for the term of 
seven years, and have appellate jurisdiction. 
The circuit courts consist of a presiding judge 
in each judicial circuit, elected by joint ballot 
of both houses of the General Assembly, and 
two associate judges in each county, elected 
by the qualified voters, in their respective 
counties, for a like term. The probate courts 
consist of one judge for each county, who 



INDIANA. 249 

is elected by the voters, for the same term. 
Justices of the peace are elected in each 
township, for the term of five years, and have 
jurisdiction, in criminal cases, throughout the 
county, but in all civil cases, throughout the 
township. 

Finances. The Indiana Gazetteer, of 1833, 
estimates that the revenue for State purposes, 
amounted to about §35,000 annually; and, for 
county purposes, to about half that sum. The 
aggregate receipts for 1835, according to the 
governor's message of Dec. 1835, amounted 
to $107,714; expenditures for the same time, 
$103, 901. Sales of canal lands for the same 
period, $175,740. The canal commissioners 
have borrowed $605,257, for canal purposes, 
on a part of which they obtained two per cent, 
premium, and, on another part, as high as 
seven per cent, ; and have also borrowed 
$450,000 bank capital, for which they receiv- 
ed four and a half per cent, premium. Three 
per cent, on all sales of United States lands 
within the State is paid by the general gov- 
ernment into the State treasury, to be expend- 
ed in making roads. The receipts from this 
source, in 1835, amounted to $24,398. Sales 
and rents of saline lands, produced an income 
of $4,636. The proceeds of certain lands, 
donated by the general government towards 
the construction of a road from the Ohio river 
to lake Michigan, amounted to $33,030. 

Internal Improvements. This State has en- 
tered with great spirit upon a system of inter- 
11* 



250 peck's guide. 

nal improvements. It consists of canaling, 
improving river navigation, rail-roads, and 
common turnpike-roads. 

Wabash and Erie Canal. This work will 
extend from Lafayette, on the Wabash river, 
up the valley of that stream, to the Manmee, 
and to the boundary of Ohio, a distance of one 
hundred and live miles. The cost of construc- 
tion has been estimated at ^1,081,970, and 
lands to the amount of 355,200 acres, have 
been appropriated by the general government, 
the proceeds of which will be suthcient to com- 
plete the canal to Fort Wayne. The middle 
division, thirty-two miles, was completed in 
July, 1835, and the remainder is in active 
progress. Its whole distance, through a part 
of Ohio, to Maumee bay, at the west end of 
lake Erie, will be one hundred and eighty- 
seven miles. 

The Whilewater Canal, seventy-six miles 
in length, along the western branch of White- 
water, is intended to pass through Conners- 
ville, Brookville, Somerset and other towns, 
to Lawrenceburgh, on the Ohio river. 

Provision is made to improve the naviga- 
tion of the Wabash river, in conjunction with 
Illinois, where it constitutes the boundary 
line; and by this Slate alone, further up. 

Synojjsis of canals surveyed by order of the 
Indiana legislature, in 1835. — Lafayette and 
Terre Haute division of the Wabash and 
Erie canal; length, ninety miles; total cost, 
$1,067,914 70; per mile, $11,865 79. 



INDIANA. 251 

Central Canal, north of Indianopolis: total 
length from Indianopolis, by the way of An- 
dersontown, Pipe creek summit, to the Wa- 
bash and Erie canal, at Wabash town, one 
hundred and three miles, thirty-four chains; 
total cost, $1,992,224 54; per mile, $17,106 
51: — length, by the way of Pipe creek sum- 
mit, to Peru, near the mouth of the Missisi- 
nawa, one hundred and fourteen miles, forty- 
six chains; total cost, $1,897,797 19; per 
mile, $14,871 85: — length, by the way of Pipe 
creek summit (including lateral canal to Mun- 
cytown), to Wabash town, one hundred and 
twenty-four miles, fifty-one chains; total cost, 
$2,103,153 61; per mile, $15,873 83:— length, 
by the way of Pipe creek summit (including 
lateral canal to Muncytown), to Peru, one 
hundred and eighty-live miles, sixty-three 
chains; total cost, $2,008,726 26; pe'r mile, 
$14,793 12. — Total length, from Indianopolis, 
l3y the way of Muncytown, to the Wabash 
and Erie canal, at Peru, one hundred and 
thirty-one miles, forty-one chains; total cost, 
$2,058,929 41 ; per mile, $14,549 71. Cen- 
tral canal, south of Indianopolis: total length, 
from Indianopolis to Evansville, one hundred 
and eighty-eight miles; total cost, $2,642,285 
92; per mile, $14,054 71. Route down the 
valley of Main Pigeon, — length, one hundred 
and ninety-four miles; total c(;st, $2,400,957 
70; per mile, $12,376 02. 

Terre Haule and Eel river Canal, ^vl]ich 
forms a connexion between the Wabash and 



252 peck's guide. 

Erie canal and White river or Central canal: 
total length, forty miles and a half; total cost, 
^629,631 65; which, including a feeder, is 
^13,540 46 per mile. 

Wabash and Erie Canal, eastern division, 
(east of Fort Wayne); upper line, — length, 
nineteen miles, thirtv chains; total cost, 
§154,113 13; permile,'$7,952 17: lower line, 
— total length, twenty miles, seventy-six and 
a half chains; total cost, $254,817 52; per 
mile, $11,159 04. 

The following are the works provided for in 
the bill, and the sums appropriated for them: 

1. The Whitewater canal, including a 
lateral canal or rail-road, to connect 
said canal with the Central or White 

river canal, ^1,400,000 

2. Central or White river canal, 3,500,000 

3. Extension of the Wahash and Erie 

canal, 1,300,000 

4. Madison and Lafayette rail-road,. . . 1,300,000 

5. M'Adamized turnpike-road from New 

Albany to Vincennes, 1,150,000 

6. Turnpike or rail-road, from Nev/ Al- 
bany to Crawfordsville, 1,300,000 

7. Removingobstructions in the Wabash, 50,000 

#10,000,000 

8. The bill gives the credit of the State 
to the Lawrenceburgh and Indianopo- 

lis rail-road company, for the sum of #500,000 

Rail-Roads, from Evansville, on the Ohio, 
to Lafayette, on the Wabash, one hundred 
and seventy-five miles, — from Lafayette to 
Michigan city, ninety miles, forming a line 



INDIANA. 253 

from the Ohio river to lake Michigan, two 
hundred and sixty-five miles in length; — from 
Madison, on the Ohio, to Indianopolis, the seat 
of government, eighty-five miles; and several 
others, were projected three years since. But 
at the session of the legislature of 1835-6, a 
bill was passed to borrow, in such instalments 
as should be needed, ten millions of dollars; and 
a system of internal improvements, including 
canals, rail-roads, and the improvement of 
river navigation, was marked out. In a few 
years, this State will be prominent in this 
species of enterprise. 

Manufactures. Besides the household man- 
ufacture of cotton and flannels, common to the 
western people, at Vincennes, and probably 
other towns, machinery is employed in seve- 
ral establishments. It will be seen from the 
sketch of each county, already given, that in 
most parts of the State there is a supply of 
water power for manufacturing purposes. 
Both water and steam power, saw and grist- 
mills, are already in operation in various parts 
of the State. 

Education. The same provision, of one • 
section of land in each township, or a thirty- 
sixth part of the public lands, has been made 
for the encouragement of common schools, as 
in other Western States. A law has been 
enacted providing for common schools, and 
the public mind has become in a measure 
awakened to the subject of education. Some 
most extravagant and exaggerated statements 
have been made, relative to an incredible 



254 peck's guide. 

number of children in this State, " who have 
no means of education." As in all new coun- 
tries, the first class of emigrants, having to 
provide fortheir more immediate wants, have 
not done so much as is desirable to promote 
common school education; but we have no 
idea they will slumber on that subject, while 
they are wide awake to the physical wants 
and resources of the country. Academies 
have been established in several counties, and 
a college at Bloomington, from the encourage- 
ment of State funds; and other institutions are 
rising up, of which the Hanover institution, 
near the Ohio river, and Wabash college, at 
Crawfordsville, promise to be conspicuous. 

History. This country was first explored 
by adventurers from Canada, with a view to 
the Indian trade, towards the close of the sev- 
enteenth century; and the place where Vin- 
cennes now stands is said to have been thus 
early occupied as a trading post. A company 
of French, from Canada, made a settlement 
here, in 1735. The country, in common with 
the Western Valley, was claimed by France, 
until it was ceded to Great Britain, at the 
treaty of peace, in 1763, under whose juris- 
diction it remained, until subdued by the 
American arms, under the intrepid Gen. G. 
R. Clark, and his gallant band, in 1779. A 
territorial government was organized by Con- 
gress, in 1787, including all the country north- 
Avest of the Ohio rivci', which was then called 
the North-Western Territory. In ]80!2, when 
the State of Ohio was organized, all that part 



INDIANA. 255 

of the Territory lying west of a line due north 
from the mouth of the Great Miami, was or- 
ganized into the Territory of Indiana; which 
was divided, and from which Illinois Territory 
was formed in 1809. In June, 1816, a con- 
stitution was adopted, and at the ensuing ses- 
sion of Congress, Indiana was made a State. 

General Remarks. The importance of In- 
diana, as a desirable State for the attention of 
the emigrant to the West, has been too much 
overlooked. Although not possessing quite 
equal advantages with Illinois, especially in 
the quality and amount of prairie soil, it is far 
superior to Ohio; and fully equal, — nay, in 
our estimation, — rather superior to Michigan. 
Almost every part is easy of access, and in a 
very few years the liberal system of internal 
improvements, adopted and in progress, will 
make almost every county accessible to public 
conveyances, and furnish abundant facilities 
to market. 

Along the wide, alluvion bottoms of the 
streams, and amidst a rank growth of vegeta- 
tion, there is usually more or less autumnal 
fever; yet, in general, there is very little dif- 
ference in any of the Western States as to 
prospects of health. 

Mechanics, school teachers, and laborers 
of every description, are much wanted in this 
State, as they are in all the States further 
west; and all may provide abundantly and 
easily all the necessaries of living for a family, 
if they will use industry, economy and sobriety. 



CHAPTER XII 



ILLINOIS. 

Boundaries and Extent — Face of the Country and Qualities 
of Soil — Inundated Land — River Bottoms, or Alluvion — 
Prairies — Barrens — Forest, or timbered Land — Knobs, 
Bluffs, Ravines and Sink-holes — Rivers, &c. — Animal, 

Mineral and Vegetable Productions Manufactures — 

Civil Divisions — Tabular View of the Counties — Sketch 
of each County — Towns — Projected Improvements — 
Education — Government — General Remarks. 

The State of Illinois is situated between 
37° and 42° 30' north latitude; and between 
10° 25' and 14° 30' west longitude from Wash- 
ington city. It is bounded on the north by 
Wisconsin Territory, north-east by lake Mich- 
igan, east by Indiana, south-east and south by 
Kentucky, and west by Missouri. Its extreme 
length is three hundred and eighty miles; and 
its extreme width, two hundred and twenty 
miles; its average width, one hundred and 
fifty miles. The area of the whole State, in- 
cluding a small portion of lake Michigan with- 
in its boundaries, is 59,300 square miles. 



ILLINOIS. 257 

The water area of the State is about 3750 
square miles. With this, deduct 5550 square 
miles for irreclaimable wastes, and there re- 
mains 50,000 square miles, or 32,000,000 
of acres of arable land in Illinois, — a much 
greater quantity than is found in any other 
State. In this estimate, inundated lands, 
submerged by high waters, but which may be 
reclaimed at a moderate expense, is included. 

Face of the Country, and qualities of Soil. 
The general surface is level, or moderately 
undulating; the northern and southern por- 
tions are broken and somewhat hilly, but no 
portion of the State is traversed with ranges 
of hills or mountains. At the verge of the al- 
luvial soil on the margins of rivers, there are 
ranges of "bluffs," intersected with ravines. 
The bluffs are usually from fifty to one hun- 
dred and fifty feet high, where an extended 
surface of table land commences, covered 
with prairies and forests of various shapes 
and sizes. 

When examined minutely, there are several 
varieties in the surface of this State, which 
will be briefly specified and described. 

1. Inundated Lands. I apply this term to 
allt hose portions, which, for some part of the 
year, are under water. These include por- 
tions of the river bottoms, and portions of the 
interior of large prairies, with the lakes and 
ponds which, for half the year or more, are 
without water. The term " bottom " is used 
throughout the West, to denote the alluvial 
12 



258 



soil on the margin of rivers, usually called 
" intervales," in New England. Portions of 
this description of land are overflowed for a 
longer or shorter period, when the rivers are 
full. Probably one eighth of the bottom lands 
are of this description; for, though the water 
may not stand for any length of time, it wholly 
prevents settlement and cultivation, though it 
does not interrupt the growth of timber and 
vegetation. These tracts are on the bottoms 
of the Wabash, Ohio, Mississippi, Illinois and 
all the interior rivers. 

When the rivers rise above their ordinary 
height, the waters of the smaller streams, 
which are backed up by the freshets of the 
former, break over their banks, and cover all 
the loM^ grounds. Here they stand for a Cew 
days, or for many weeks, especially towards 
the bluffs; for it is a striking fact in the geol- 
ogy of the western country, that all the river 
bottoms are higher on the margins of the 
streams than at some distance back. When- 
ever increase of population shall create a de- 
mand for this species of soil, the most of it 
can be reclaimed at comparatively small ex- 
pense. Its fertility will be inexhaustible, and 
if the waters from the rivers could be shut 
out by dykes or levees, the soil would be per- 
fectly dry. Most of the small lakes on the 
American bottom disappear in the summer, 
and leave a deposit of vegetable matter un- 
dergoing decomposition, or a luxuriant coat 
of weeds and grass. 



ILLINOIS. 259 

As our prairies mostly lie between the 
streams that drain the country, the interior 
of the large ones are usually level. Here are 
formed ponds and lakes, after the winter and 
spring rains, which remain, to be drawn off by 
evaporation, or absorbed by an adhesive soil. 
Hence the middle of our large, level prairies 
are wet, and for several weeks portions of 
them are covered with water. To remedy 
this inconvenience completely, and render all 
this portion of soil dry and productive, only 
requires a ditch or drain of two or three feet 
deep to be cut into the nearest ravine. In 
many instances, a single furrow with the 
plough would drain many acres. At present, 
this species of inundated land offers no incon- 
venience to the people, except in the produc- 
tion of miasm, and even that, perhaps, be- 
comes too much diluted with the atmosphere 
to produce mischief before it reaches the set- 
tlements on the borders of the prairie. Hence 
the inference is correct, that our inundated 
lands present fewer obstacles to the settle- 
ment and growth of the country, and can be 
reclaimed at much less expense, than the 
swamps and salt marshes of the Atlantic 
States. 

2. River bottoms, or JlUuvion. The surface 
of our alluvial bottoms is not entirely level. In 
some places it resembles alternate waves of 
the ocean, and looks as though the waters 
had left their deposit in ridges, and retired. 

The portion of bottom land capable of pres- 



260 peck's guide. 

ent cultivation, and on which the waters never 
stand, if, at an extreme fresliet it is covered, 
is a soil of exhaustless fertility; a soil that for 
ages past has been gradually deposited by 
the annual floods. Its average depth on the 
American bottom, is from twenty to twenty- 
five {eet. Logs of wood, and other indica- 
tions, are found at that depth. The soil dug 
from wells on these bottoms, produces luxuri- 
antly the first year. 

The most extensive and fertile tract of this 
description of soil in this State, is the Ameri- 
can bottom, a name it received when it consti- 
tuted the western boundary of the United 
States, and which it has retained ever since. 
It commences at the mouth of the Kaskaskia 
river, five miles below the town of Kaskaskia, 
and extends northwardly, along the Mississip- 
pi, to the bluffs at Alton, a distance of ninety 
miles. Its average width is five miles, and 
contains about four hundred and fifty square 
miles, or 288,000 acres. Opposite St. Louis, 
in St. Clair county, the bluffs are seven miles 
from the river, and filled with inexhaustible 
beds of coal. The soil of this bottom is an 
argillaceous or a silicious loam, according as 
clay or sand happens to predominate in its 
formation. 

On the margin of the river, and of some of 
its lakes, is a strip of heavy timber, with a 
thick undergrowth, which extends from half a 
mile to two miles in width; but from thence to 
the bluffs, it is principally prairie. It is in- 



ILLINOIS. 261 

terspersed with sloughs, lakes and ponds, the 
most of which become dry in autumn. 

The soil of the American bottom is inex- 
haustibly rich. About the French towns it 
has been cultivated, and produced corn in 
succession for more than a century, without 
exhausting its fertilizing powers. The only 
objection that can be offered to this tract is 
its unhealthy character. This, however, has 
diminished considerably within eight or ten 
years. The geological feature noticed in the 
last article, — that all our bottoms are higher 
on the margin of the stream, than towards 
the bluffs, — explains the cause why so much 
standing water is on the bottom land, which, 
during the summer, stagnates and throws off 
noxious effluvia. These lakes are usually 
full of vegetable matter undergoing decompo- 
sition, and which produces large quantities of 
miasm. Some of the lakes are clear, with a 
sandy bottom, but the most are of a different 
character. The French settled near a lake 
or a river, apparently in the most unhealthy 
places, and yet their constitutions were little 
affected ; and they usually enjoyed good health, 
though dwarfish and shriveled in their form 
and features. 

"The villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du 
Rocher and Cahokia, were built up by their 
industry, in places where Americans would 
have perished. Cultivation has, no doubt, 
rendered this tract more salubrious than for- 
merly; and an increase of it, together with 



262 peck's guide. 

the construction of drains and canals, will 
make it one of the most eligible in the States. 
The old inhabitants advise the emigrants not 
to plant corn in the immediate vicinity of their 
dwellings, as its rich and massive foliage pre- 
vents the sun from dispelling the deleterious 
vapors."* 

These lakes and ponds could be drained at 
a small expense, and the soil would be suscep- 
tible of cultivation. The early settlements of 
the Americans were either on this bottom, or 
the contiguous bluffs. 

Besides the American bottom, there are 
others that resemble it in its general charac- 
ter, but not in extent. In Union cou^nty, 
there is an extensive bottom on the borders 
of the Mississippi. Above the mouth of the 
Illinois, and along the borders of the counties 
of Calhoun, Pike and Adams, there are a se- 
ries of bottoms, with much good and elevated 
land; but the inundated grounds around 
present objections to a dense population at 
present. 

The bottoms of Illinois, where not inundat- 
ed, are equal in fertility, and the soil is less 
adhesive than most parts of the American 
bottom. This is likewise the character of the 
bottoms in the northern parts of the State. 

The bottoms of the Kaskaskia are generally 
covered with a heavy growth of timber, and 
in many places inundated, when the river is 
at its highest floods. 

*Beck 



ILLINOIS. 263 

The extensive prairies adjoining, will create 
a demand for all this timber. The bottom 
lands on the Wabash are of various qualities. 
Near the mouth, much of it is inundated; 
higher up, it overflows in high freshets. 

These bottoms, especially the American, 
are the best regions in the United States for 
raising stock, particularly horses, cattle and 
swine. Seventy-five bushels of corn to the 
acre is an ordinary crop. The roots and 
worms of the soil, the acorns and other fruits 
from the trees, and the fish of the lakes, ac- 
celerate the growth of swine. Horses and 
cattle find exhaustless supplies of grass in the 
prairies; and pea-vines, buffalo-grass, wild 
oats, and other herbage in the timber, for 
summer range; and often throughout most of 
the winter. In all the rush bottoms, they 
fatten during the severe weather, on rushes. 
The bottom soil is not so well adapted to the 
production of small grain, as of maize or In- 
dian corn, on account of its rank growth, and 
being more subject to blast or fall down be- 
fore harvest, than on the uplands. 

3. Prairies. Much the largest proportion is 
undulating, dry and extremely fertile. Other 
portions are level; and the soil in some cases 
proves to be wet; — the water, not running off 
freely, is left to be absorbed by the soil, or 
evaporated by the sun. Craw-fish throw up 
their hillocks in this soil, and the farmer who 
cultivates it, will find his labors impeded by 
the water. 



264 peck's guide. 

In the southern part, that is, south of the 
national road leading from Terre Haute to 
the Mississippi, the prairies are comparative- 
ly small, varying in size from those of several 
miles in width, to those which contain only a 
few acres. As we go northward, they widen 
and extend on the more elevated ground be- 
tween the water-courses, to a vast distance, 
and are frequently from six to twelve miles in 
width. Their borders are by no means uni- 
form. Long points of timber project into the 
prairies, and line the banks of the streams, 
and points of prairie project into the timber 
between these streams. In many instances 
are copses and groves of timber, from one 
hundred to two thousand acres, in the midst 
of prairies, like islands in the ocean. This is 
a common feature in the country between the 
Sangamon river and lake Michigan, and in the 
northern parts of the State. The lead-mine 
region, both in this State and Wisconsin Ter- 
ritory, abound with these groves. 

The origin of tljese prairies has caused much 
speculation. We might as well dispute about 
the origin of forests, upon the assumption that 
the natural covering of the earth was grass. 
Probably one half of the earth's surface, in a 
state of nature, was prairies or barrens. Much 
of it, like our western prairies, was covered 
with a luxuriant coat of grass and herbage. 
The steppes of Tartary, the pampas of South 
America, the savannas of the Southern, and 
the prairies of the Western States, designate 



ILLINOIS. 265 

similar tracts of country. Mesopotamia, Syria 
and Judea had their ancient prairies, on which 
the patriarchs fed their flocks. Missionaries 
in Burmah, and travelers in the interior of 
Africa, mention the same description of coun- 
try. Where the tough sward of the prairie is 
once formed, timber will not take root. De- 
stroy this by the plough, or by any other 
method, and it is soon converted into forest 
land. There are large tracts of country in 
the older settlements, where thirty or forty 
years since, the farmers mowed their hay, 
that are now covered with a forest of young 
timber of rapid growth. 

The fire annually sweeps over the prairies, 
destroying the grass and herbage, blackening 
the surface, and leaving a deposit of ashes to 
enrich the soil. 

4. Barrens. This term, in the western dia- 
lect, does not indicate poor land, but a species 
of surface of a mixed character, uniting forest 
and prairie. 

The timber is generally scattering, of a 
rough and stunted appearance, interspersed 
with patches of hazle and brushwood, and 
where the contest between the fire and timber 
is kept up, each striving for the mastery. 

In the early settlements of Kentucky, much 
of the country below and south of Green river, 
presented a dwarfish and stunted growth of 
timber, scattered over the surface, or collect- 
ed in clumps, with hazle and shrubbery inter- 
mixed. This appearance led the first explor- 



266 peck's guide. 

ers to the inference that the soil itself must 
necessarily be poor, to produce so scanty a 
growth of timber, and they gave the name of 
barrens to the whole tract of country. Long 
since, it has been ascertained that this de- 
scription of land is amongst the most produc- 
tive soil in the State. The term barren has 
since received a very extensive application 
throughout the West. Like all other tracts 
of country, the barrens present a considerable 
diversity of soil. In general, however, the 
surface is more uneven or rolling than the 
prairies, and sooner degenerates into ravines 
and sink-holes. Wherever timber barely suf- 
ficient for present purposes, can be found, 
a person need not hesitate to settle in the 
barrens. These tracts are almost invariably 
healthy; they possess a greater abundance of 
pure springs of water, and the soil is better 
adapted for all kinds of produce, and all de- 
scriptions of seasons, wet and dry, than the 
deeper and richer mould of the bottoms and 
prairies. 

When the fires are stopped, these barrens 
produce timber, at a rate of which no north- 
ern emigrant can have any just conception. 
Dwarfish shrubs, and small trees of oak and 
hickory are scattered over the surface, where 
for years they have contended with the fires 
for a precarious existence, while a mass of 
roots, sufficient for the support of large trees, 
have accumulated in the earth. As soon as 
they are protected from the ravages of the 



ILLINOIS. 267 

annual fires, the more thrifty sprouts shoot 
forth, and in ten years are large enough for 
corn-cribs and stables. 

As the fires on the prairies become stopped 
by the surrounding settlements, and the wild 
grass is eaten out and trodden down by the 
stock, they begin to assume the character of 
barrens; first, hazle and other shrubs, and 
finally, a thicket of young timber, covers the 
surface. 

5. Forest, or Umbered Land. In general, Il- 
linois is abundantly supplied with timber, and 
were it equally distributed through the State, 
there would be no part in want. The appa- 
rent scarcity of timber where the prairie pre- 
dominates, is not so great an obstacle to the 
settlement of the country as has been suppos- 
ed. For many of the purposes to which tim- 
ber is applied, substitutes are found. The 
rapidity with which the young growth pushes 
itself forward, without a single effort on the 
part of man to accelerate it, and the readiness 
with which the prairie becomes converted 
into thickets, and then into a forest of young 
timber, shows, that, in another generation, 
timber will not be wanting in any part of 
Illinois. 

The kinds of timber most abundant are oak 
of various species, black and white walnut, 
ash of several kinds, elm, sugar-maple, honey- 
locust, hackberry, linden, hickory, cotton- 
wood, pecaun, mulberry, buckeye, sycamore, 
wild cherry, box-elder, sassafras, and per- 



268 peck's guide. 

simmon. In the southern and eastern parts 
of the State are yellow poplar and beech; 
near the Ohio are cypress, and in several 
counties are clumps of yellow pine and cedar. 
On the Calamick, near the south end of lake 
Michigan, is a small forest of white pine. The 
undergrowth are red-bud, pawpaw, sumach, 
plum, crab-apple, grape vines, dogwood, spice- 
bush, green brier, hazle, &c. The alluvial 
soil of the rivers produces cotton-wood and 
sycamore timber of amazing size. 

For ordinary purposes there is now timber 
enough in most parts of the State, to say noth- 
ing about the artificial production of timber, 
which may be effected with little trouble and 
expense. The black locust, a native of Ohio 
and Kentucky, may be raised from the seed, 
with less labor than a nursery of apple trees. 
It is of rapid growth, and, as a valuable and 
lasting timber, claims the attention of our 
farmers. It forms one of the cleanliest and 
most beautiful shades, and when in blossom, 
gives a rich prospect, and sends abroad a de- 
licious fragrance. 

6. Knobs, Bluffs, Ravines and Sink-holes. 
Under these heads are included tracts of un- 
even country found in various parts of the State. 

Knobs are ridges of flint limestone, inter- 
mingled and covered with earth, and elevated 
one or two hundred feet above the common 
surface. This species of land is of little value 
for cultivation, and usually has a sprinkling of 
dwarfish, stunted timber, like the barrens. 



ILLINOIS. 269 

The steep hills and natural mounds that 
border the alluvions have obtained the name 
of bluffs. Some are in long, parallel ridges, 
others are in the form of cones and pyramids. 
In some places, precipices of limestone rock, 
from fifty to one or two hundred feet high, 
form these bluffs. 

Ravines are formed amongst the bluffs, and 
often near the borders of prairies, which lead 
down to the streams. 

Sink-Jioles are circular depressions in the 
surface, like a basin. They are of various 
sizes, from ten to fifty feet deep, and from 
ten to one or two hundred yards in circum- 
ference. Frequently they contain an outlet 
for the water received by the rains. Their 
existence shows that the substratum is secon- 
dary limestone, abounding with subterraneous 
cavities. 

There are but few tracts of stony ground in 
the State; that is, where loose stones are 
scattered over the surface, and imbedded in 
the soil. Towards the northern part of the 
State, tracts of stony ground exist. Quarries 
of stone exist in the bluffs and in the banks of 
the streams and ravines throughout the State. 
The soil is porous, easy to cultivate, and ex- 
ceedingly productive. A strong team is re- 
quired to break up the prairies, on account of 
the firm, grassy sward which covers them; 
but when subdued, they become fine, arable 
lands. 

Rivers, Sfc. This State is surrounded and 



270 

intersected by navigable streams. The Mis- 
sissippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers are on 
three sides; the Illinois, Kaskaskia, Sanga- 
mon, Muddy, and many smaller streams are 
entirely within its borders; and the Kankakee, 
Fox, Rock, and Vermilion of the Wabash run 
part of their course within this State. The 
Mississippi meanders its western border for 
seven hundred miles. Its principal tributaries 
within Illinois, are Rock, Illinois, Kaskaskia 
and Muddy rivers. The Illinois river com- 
mences at the junction of the Kankakee, which 
originates near the South Bend, in Indiana, and 
the Des Plaines, which rises in Wisconsin 
Territory. From their junction, the Illinois 
runs nearly a west course (receiving Fox 
river at Ottawa, and Vermilion near the foot 
of the rapids), to Hennepin, where it curves 
to the south and then to the south-west, re- 
ceiving a number of tributaries, the largest of 
which are Spoon river from the right and San- 
gamon from the left, till it reaches Naples. 
Here it bends gradually to the south, and 
continues that course till within six miles of 
the Mississippi, when it curves to the south- 
east, and finally, to nearly an eastern course. 
Its length (without reckoning the windings of 
the channel in navigation), is about two hun- 
dred and sixty miles, and is navigable for 
steam-boats, at a moderate stage of water, to 
the foot of the rapids. The large streams on 
the eastern side of the State are Iroquois, a 
tributary to the Kankakee, Vermilion of the 



ILLINOIS. 271 

Wabash, which enters that river in Indiana, 
Embarras, that has its source near that of the 
Kaskaskia, runs south-easterly, and enters 
the Wabash, nine miles below Vinccnnes, 
and Little 'Wabash, near its mouth. Along 
the Ohio, the only streams deserving note are 
the Saline and Bay creeks, and Cash river, 
the last of which enters the Ohio six miles 
above its confluence with the Mississippi. 

Productions. These are naturally classed 
into mineral, animal and vegetable. 

Minerals. The northern portion of Illinois 
is inexhaustibly rich in mineral productions, 
while coal, secondary limestone, and sand- 
stone, are found in every part. 

Iron ore has been found in the southern 
parts of the State, and is said to exist in con- 
siderable quantities in the northern parts. 

Native copper, in small quantities, has been 
found on Muddy river, in Jackson county, 
and back of Harrisonville, in the bluffs of 
Monroe county. Crystallized gypsum has 
been found in small quantities in St. Clair 
county. Quartz crystals exist in Gallatin 
county. 

Silver is supposed to exist in St. Clair 
county, two miles from Rock Spring, from 
whence Silver creek derives its name. In 
early times a shaft was sunk here, by the 
French, and tradition tells of large quantities 
of the precious metals being obtained. 

In the southern part of the State, several 
sections of land have been reserved from sale, 



!272 



PECK S GUIDE. 



on account of the silver ore they are supposed 
to contain. 

Lead is found in vast quantities in the 
northern part of Illinois, and the adjacent 
Territory. Here are the richest lead mines 
hitherto discovered on the globe. This por- 
tion of country lies principally north of Rock 
river and south of the Wisconsin. Du- 
buque's and other rich mines, are west of 
the Mississippi. 

Native copper, in large quantities, exists in 
this region, especially at the mouth of Plum 
creek, and on the Peek-a-ton-o-kee, a branch 
of Rock river. 

The following is a list of the principal dig- 
gings in that portion of the lead-mine region 
that lies between Rock river and the Wiscon- 
sin, embracing portions of Illinois State, and 
Wisconsin Territory. Some of these diggings 
are, probably relinquished, and many new 
ones commenced: — 



Apple creek, 

Galena and vicinity, 

Cave diggings, 

Buncombe, 

Natchez, 

Hardscrabble, 

New diggings, 

Gratiot's Grove, 

Spulburg, 

VV. S. Hamilton's, 

Cotttle's, 

McNutt's, 



Menonnonee creek, 

Plattsville, 

Cassville and vicinity, 

Madden's, 

Mineral point, 

Dodgeville, 

Worke's diggings, 

Brisbo's, 

Blue mounds, 

Prairie springs, 

Harnmett & Campbell's, 

Morrison's ; 



and many others. 



ILLINOIS. 273 

■Amount of Lead manufactured. For many 
years the Indians, and some of the French 
hunters and traders, had been accustomed to 
dig lead in these regions. They never pene- 
trated much below the surface, but obtained 
considerable quantities of the ore which they 
sold to the traders. 

In 1823, the late Colonel James Johnson, 
(brother to the Hon. R. M. Johnson,) of 
Great Crossings, Kentucky, obtained a lease 
from the United States government, and made 
arrangements to prosecute the business of 
smelting, with considerable force, which he 
did the following season. This attracted the 
attention of enterprising men in Illinois, Mis- 
souri, and other States. Some went on in 
1826, more followed in 1827, and in 1828 the 
country was almost literally filled with miners, 
smelters, merchants, speculators, gamblers, 
and every description of character. Intelli- 
gence, enterprise and virtue were thrown in 
the midst of dissipation, gaming, and every 
species of vice. Such was the crowd of ad- 
venturers in 1829, to this hitherto almost 
unknown and desolate region, that the lead 
business was greatly overdone, and the mar- 
ket for a while nearly destroyed. Fortunes 
were made almost upon the turn of the spade, 
and lost with equal facility. The business 
has revived, and is profitable. Exhaustless 
quantities of mineral exist here, over a tract 
of country two hundred miles in extent. 

The following table shows the amount of 
12* 



274 



PECK S GUIDE. 



lead made annually at these diggings, from 
1821, to September 30, 1835:— 

Amount of Lead manvfactured. 



From 1821, to Sept. 1823, 

For the year ending Sept. 30, 1824, 

1825, 

1826,, 
«' " " 1827, 

1828, 
*« « " 1829,, 
" " " 1830, 
«' " " 1831, 

1832, 
«* " " 1833, 
'« " " 1834, 

1835, 

Total, 



Pounds. 

335,130 

175,220 

664,530 

958,842 

5,182,180 

11,105,810 

13,344,150 

8,323,993 

6,381,900 

4,281,876 

7,941,792 

7,971,579 

3,754,290 

70,420,357 



The rent, accruing to government, for the 
same period, is a fraction short of six millions 
of pounds. The government formerly receiv- 
ed ten per cent, in lead, for rent: now it is 
six per cent. 

A part of the mineral land in Wisconsin 
Territory has been surveyed and brought into 
market, which will add greatly to the stability 
and prosperity of the mining business. 

Coal. Bituminous coal abounds in Illinois, 
It may be seen, frequently, in the ravines and 
gullies, and in the points of bluffs. Exhaust- 
less beds of this article exist in the bluffs of 
St. Clair county, bordering on the American 
bottom, of which large quantities are trans- 
ported to St. Louis, for fuel. There is scarce- 



ILLINOIS. 275 

ly a county in the State, but what can furnish 
coal, in reasonable quantities. Large beds 
are said to exist near the Vermilion of the Il- 
linois, and in the vicinity of the rapids of the 
latter. 

Agatized Wood. A petrified tree, of black 
walnut, was found in the bed of the river Des 
Plaines, about forty rods above its junction 
with the Kankakee, imbedded in a horizontal 
position, in a stratum of sandstone. There is 
fifty-one and a half feet of the trunk visible ; 
eighteen inches in diameter at its smallest 
end, and probably three feet at the other end. 

Muriate of Soda, or common salt. This is 
found in various parts of the State, held in 
solution in the springs. The mauufacture of 
salt, by boiling and evaporation, is carried on 
in Gallatin county, twelve miles west-north- 
west from Shawneetown; in Jackson county, 
near Brownsville; and in Vermilion county, 
near Danville. The springs and land are 
owned by the State, and the works leased. 

A coarse freestone, much used in building, 
is dug from quarries near Alton, on the Mis- 
sissippi, where large bodies exist. 

Scattered over the surface of our prairies, 
are large masses of rock, of granatic forma- 
tion, roundish in form, usually called by the 
people, lost rocks. They will weigh from one 
thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, 
are entirely detached, and frequently are 
found several miles distant from any quarry. 
Nor has there ever been a quarry of granite 



276 PECK^S GUIDE. 

discovered in the State. These stones are 
denominated bowlders, in mineralogy; thej 
usually lie on the surface, or are partially im- 
bedded in the soil of our prairies, M'hich is 
unquestionably of diluvial formation. How 
they came here is a question of difficult solu- 
tion. 

Medicinal waters are found in different 
parts of the State. These are chiefly sulphur 
springs and chalybeate waters. There is said 
to be one well in the southern part of the 
State, strongly impregnated with the sulphate 
of magnesia or Epsom salts, from which con- 
siderable quantities have been made for sale,, 
by simply evaporating the water, in a kettle, 
over a common fire. 

There are several sulphur springs in Jef- 
ferson county, to which persons resort for 
heahh. 

Vvgefahle Productions. The principal trees 
and shrubs of Illinois have been noticed under 
the head of forest or timbered land. Of oak 
there are several species, as over-cup, burr- 
oak, swamp or water oak, white oak, red or 
Spanish oak, post oak and black oak of seve- 
ral varieties, with the black-jack, a dwarfish 
gnarled-looking tree, excellent for fuel, but 
good for nothing else. 

The black walnut is much used for building 
materials and cabinet work, and sustains a 
line polish. 

In most parts of the State, grape-vines, in- 
digenous to the country, are abundant, which 



ILLINOIS. 277 

yield grapes that might advantageously be 
made into excellent wine. Foreign vines are 
susceptible of easy cultivation. These are 
cultivated to a considerable extent, at Vevay, 
Switzerland county, Indiana, and at New 
Harmony, on the Wabash. The indigenous 
vines are prolific, and produce excellent fruit. 
They are found in every variety of soil; in- 
terwoven in every thicket in the prairies and 
barrens; and climbing to the tops of the very 
highest trees on the bottoms. The French, 
in early times, made so much wine as to ex- 
port some to France; upon which the proper 
authorities prohibited the introduction of wine 
from Illinois, lest it might injure the sale of 
that staple article of the kingdom. I think 
the act was passed by the Board of Trade, in 
1774. The editor of the Illinois Magazine 
remarks, "We know one gentleman who 
made twenty-seven barrels of wine in a single 
season, from the grapes gathered with but 
little labor, in his immediate neighborhood.'* 

The wild plum is found in every part of the 
State; but in most instances the fruit is too 
sour for use, unless for preserves. Crab- 
apples are equally prolific, and make fine pre- 
serves, with about double their bulk of sugar. 
Wild cherries are equally productive. The 
persimmon is a delicious fruit, after the frost 
has destroyed its astringent properties. The 
black mulberry grows in most parts, and is 
used for the feeding of silk-worms, with suc- 
cess. They appear to thrive and spin as well 



278 



PECK S GUIDE. 



as on the Italian mulberry. The gooseberry, 
strawberry and blackberry, grow wild and in 
great profusion. Of nuts, the hickory, black 
walnut and pecaun, deserve notice. The last 
is an oblong, thin-shelled, delicious nut, that 
grows on a large tree, a species of the hick- 
ory (the Cari/a o/fyce/onms of Nuttall). The 
pawpaw grows on the bottoms and rich, tim- 
bered uplands, and produces a large, pulpy 
and luscious fruit. Of domestic fruits, the 
apple and peach are chiefly cultivated. Pears 
are tolerably plenty in the French settle- 
ments, and quinces are cultivated with suc- 
cess by some Americans. Apples are easily 
cultivated, and are very productive. The 
trees can be made to bear fruit to considera- 
ble advantage, in seven years, from the seed. 
Many varieties are of fine flavor, and grow to 
a large size. I have measured apples, the 
growth of St. Clair county, that exceeded thir- 
teen inches in circumference. Some of the 
early American settlers provided orchards; 
they now reap the advantages. But a large 
proportion of the population of the frontiers 
are content without this indispensable article 
in the comforts of a yankee farmer. Cider is 
made in small quantities in the old settle- 
ments. In a few years, a supply of this bev- 
erage can be had in most parts of Illinois. 

Peach trees grow with great rapidity, and 
decay proportionably soon. From ten to fif- 
teen years may be considered the life of this 
tree. Our peaches are delicious, but they 



279 



sometimes fail, by being destroyed in the 
germ, by winter frosts. — The bud swells pre- 
maturely. 

Garden vegetables can be produced here in 
vast profusion, and of excellent quality. 

That we have few of the elegant and well 
dressed gardens of gentlemen in the old 
Stiites, is admitted; which is not owing to 
climate, or soil, but to the want of leisure 
and means. 

Our Irish potatoes, pumpkins and squashes 
are inferior, but not our cabbages, peas, 
beets or onions. 

A cabbage-head, two or three feet in diam- 
eter, including the leaves, is no wonder on 
this soil. Beets often exceed twelve inches 
in circumference. Parsnips will penetrate 
our light, porous soil, to the depth of two or 
three feet. 

The cultivated vegetable productions in the 
field, are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, 
barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet po- 
tatoes, turnips, rye for horse-feed and distil- 
leries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor 
bean, and every other production common to 
the Middle States. 

Maize is a staple production. No farmer 
can live without it, and hundreds raise little 
else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with 
which it is cultivated. Its average produce 
is fifty bushels to the acre. I have oftentimes 
seen it produce seventy-five bushels to the 
acre, and in a few instances, exceed one 
hundred. 



280 peck's guide. 

Wheat yields a good and sure crop, espe- 
cially in the counties bordering on the Illinois 
river. It weighs upwards of sixty pounds per 
bushel; and flour from this region has prefer- 
ence in the New Orleans market, and passes 
better inspection than the same article from 
Ohio or Kentucky. 

In 1825, the weevil, for the first time, made 
its appearance in St. Clair and the adjacent 
counties, and has occasionally renewed its 
visits since. Latterly, some fields have been 
injured by the fly. 

A common but slovenly practice amongst 
our farmers, is to sow wheat amongst the 
standing corn in September, and cover it, by 
running a few furrows with the plough be- 
tween the rows of corn. The dry stalks are 
then cut down in the spring, and left on the 
ground. Even by this imperfect mode, fifteen 
or twenty bushels of wheat to the acre, are 
produced. But where the ground is duly pre- 
pared by fallowing, and the seed put in at the 
proper time, a good crop, averaging from twen- 
ty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre rarely 
fails to be procured. 

The average price of wheat, at present, is a 
dollar per bushel, varying a little according 
to the competition of mills and facilities to 
market. In many instances a single crop of 
wheat will more than pay the expenses of 
purchasing the land, fencing, breaking the 
prairie, seed, putting in the crop, harvesting, 
threshing and taking it to market. Wheat is 



ILLINOIS. 281 

now frequently sown on the prairie land, as a 
first crop, and a ^ood yield obtained. 

Flouring-mills are now in operation in many 
of the wheat-growing counties. Steam power 
is getting into extensive use, both for sawing 
timber and manufacturing flour. 

It is to be regretted, that so few of our 
farmers have erected barns for the security 
of their crops. No article is more profitable, 
and really more indispensable to a farmer, 
than a large barn. 

Oats have not been much raised till lately. 
They are very productive, often yielding from 
forty to fifty bushels on the acre, and usually 
sell for twenty-five cents per bushel. The 
demand, for the use of stage and travelers* 
horses, is increasing. 

Htmp is an indigenous plant, in the south- 
ern part of this State, as it is in Missouri. It 
has not been extensively cultivated; but wher- 
ever tried, is found very productive, and of an 
excellent quality. It might be made a staple 
of the country. 

Tobacco, though a filthy and noxious weed, 
which no human being ought ever to use, can 
be produced in any quantity, and of the first 
quality, in Illinois. 

Colton, for many years, has been success- 
fully cultivated in this State, for domestic 
use, and some for exportation. Two or three 
spinning-factories are in operation, and pro- 
duce cotton yarn, from the growth of the coun- 
try, with promising success. This branch of 
13 



282 peck's guide. 

business admits of enlargement, and invites 
the attention of eastern manufacturers with 
small capital. Much of the cloth made in 
families who have emigrated from States south 
of the Ohio, is from the cotton of the. country. 

Flax is produced and of a tolerable quality, 
but not equal to that of the Northern States. 
It is said to be productive and good in the 
northern counties. 

Barleij yields well, and is a sure crop. 

The jjalma chrisii, or castor-oil bean, is pro- 
duced in considerable quantities, in Madison, 
Randolph and other counties, and large quan- 
tities of oil are expressed and sent abroad. 

Sii'eet potatoes are a delicious root, which 
yields abundantly, especially on the American 
bottom and rich, sandy prairies. 

But little has been done to introduce culti- 
vated grasses. The prairie grass looks coarse 
and unsavory, and yet our horses and cattle 
will thrive well on it. 

To produce timothy with success, the 
ground must be well cultivated in the sum- 
mer, either by an early crop, or by fallowing, 
and the seed sown about the twentieth of Sep- 
tember, at the rate of ten or twelve quarts of 
clean seed to the acre, and lightly brushed in. 
If the season is in any way favorable, it will 
get a rapid start before winter. By the last 
week in June, it will produce two tons per 
acre, of the finest hay. It then requires a 
dressing of stable or yard-manure, and occa- 
sionally the turf may be scratched with a bar- 



ILLINOIS. 283 

row, to prevent the roots from binding too 
hard. By this process, timothy meadows may 
be made and preserved. There are meadows 
in St. Clair county, which have yielded heavy 
crops of hay in succession, for several years, 
and bid fair to continue, for an indefinite pe- 
riod. Cattle, and especially horses, should 
never be permitted to run in meadows, in Il- 
linois. The fall grass may be cropped down 
by calves and colts. There is but little more 
labor required to produce a crop of timothy, 
than a crop of oats; and as there is not a 
stone or a pebble to interrupt, the soil may 
be turned up every third or fourth year, lor 
corn, and afterwards laid down to grass 
again. 

A species of blue grass is cultivated by 
some farmers, for pastures. If well set, and 
not eaten down in summer, blue grass pas- 
tures may he kept green and fresh till late in 
autumn, or even in the winter. The English 
spire-grass has been cultivated with success 
in the Wabash county. 

Of the trefoil, or clover, there is but little 
cultivated. A prejudice exists against it, as 
it is imagined to injure horses, by atfecting 
the glands of the mouth, and causing them to 
slaver. It grows luxuriantly, and may be cut 
for hay, early in June. The white clover 
comes in naturally, where the ground has 
been cultivated and thrown by, or along the 
sides of old roads and paths. Clover pastures 
would be excellent for swine. 



284 



Animals. Of wild animals there are several 
species. The buffalo is not found on this side 
of the Mississippi, nor within several hundred 
miles of St. Louis. This animal once roamed 
at large over the prairies of Illinois, and was 
found in plenty, thirty-five years since. 

Wolves, panthers and icild-cats still exist on 
the frontiers and through the unsettled por- 
tions of the country, and annoy the farmer, by 
destroying his sheep and pigs. 

Deer are also very numerous, and are val- 
uable, particularly to that class of our popula- 
tion which has been raised to frontier habits; 
the flesh affording them food, and the skins 
clothing. Fresh venison-hams usually sell for 
twenty-five cents each, and when properly 
cured, are a delicious article. Many of the 
frontier people dress the skins and make them 
into pantaloons and hunting-shirts. These 
articles are indispensable to all who have oc- 
casion to travel, in viewing land, or for any 
other purpose beyond the settlements, as cloth 
garments, in the shrubs and vines, would soon 
be in strings. 

It is a novel and pleasing sight to a stran- 
ger, to see the deer, in flocks of eight, ten, or 
fifteen in number, feeding on the grass of the 
prairies, or bounding away, at the sight of a 
traveler. 

The brown bear is also an inhabitant of the 
unsettled parts of this State, although he is 
continually retreating before the advance of 
civilization. 



ILLINOIS. 285 

Foxes, racoons, opossums, gophars and squir- 
rels are also numerous, as are muskrats, otters, 
and occasionally beaver, about our rivers and 
lakes. Racoons are very common, and fre- 
quently do mischief, in the fall, to the corn. 
Opossums sometimes trouble the poultry. 

The gophar is a singular little animal, about 
the size of a squirrel, which burrows in the 
ground, and is seldom seen; but its works 
make it known. It labors during the night, 
in digging subterranean passages in the rich 
soil of the prairies, and throws up hillocks of 
fresh earth, within a few feet distance from 
each other, and from twelve to eighteen inch- 
es in height. 

The gray and fox squirrels often do mischief 
in the cornfields, and the hunting of them 
makes fine sport for the boys. 

Common rabbits exist in every thicket, and 
annoy nurseries and young orchards exceed- 
ingly. The fence around a nursery must al- 
ways be so close as to shut out rabbits; and 
young apple trees must be secured, at the ap- 
proach of winter, by tying straw or corn-stalks 
around their bodies, for two or three feet in 
height, or the bark will be stripped off by 
these mischievous animals. 

Wild horses are found ranging the prairies 
and forests in some parts of the State. They 
are small in size, of the Indian or Canadian 
breed and very hardy. They are found chief- 
ly in the lower end of the American bottom, 
near the junction of the Kaskaskia and Mis- 



286 peck's guide. 

sissippi rivers, called the point. They are the 
offspring of the horses brought there by the 
first settlers, and which were suffered to run 
at large. The Indians of the West have many 
such horses, which are commonly called In- 
dian ponies. 

Domestic Animals. These are the same 
as are found in other portions of the United 
States. But little has been done to improve 
the breed of horses among us. Our common 
riding or working-horses average about fifteen 
hands in height. They are much more used 
here than in the Eastern States, and many a 
farmer keeps half a dozen or more. Much 
of the traveling throughout the western coun- 
try, both by men and women, is performed on 
horseback; and a large proportion of the land 
carriage is by means of large wagons, with 
from tour to six stout horses for a team. A 
great proportion of the ploughing is performed 
by horse-labor. Horses are more subject to 
diseases in this country than in the old States, 
which is thought to be occasioned by bad 
management, rather than by the climate. A 
good farm-horse can be purchased for fifty 
dollars. Riding or carriage-horses, of a su- 
perior quality, cost from seventy-five to eighty 
dollars. Breeding-mares are profitable stock 
for every farmer to keep, as their annual ex- 
pense in keeping is but trifling: their labor is 
always needed, and their colts, when grown, 
find a ready market. Some farmers keep a 
stallion and eight or ten brood-mares. 



ILLINOIS. 287 

Mules are brought into Missouri, and find 
their way to Illinois, from the Mexican do- 
minions. They are a hardy animal, grow to 
a good size, and are used by some, both for 
labor and riding. 

Our neat cattle are usually inferior in size to 
those of the old States. This is owing entirely 
to bad management. Our cows are not pen- 
ned up in pasture fields, but suffered to run 
at laro;e over the commons. Hence all the 
calves are preserved, without respect to qual- 
ity, to entice the cows homeward at evening. 
In autumn their food is wevy scanty, and 
during the winter they are permitted to pick 
up a precarious subsistence amongst fifty or a 
hundred head of cattle. With such manage- 
ment, is it surprising that our cows and steers 
are much inferior to those of the old wStates.^ 
And yet, our beef is the finest in the world. 
It bears the best inspection of any in the New 
Orleans market. By the first of June, and 
often by the middle of May, our young cattle 
on the prairies are fit for market. They do 
not yield large quantities of tallow, but the fat 
is well proportioned throughout the carcass, 
and the meat tender and delicious. By infe- 
riority, then, I mean the size of our cattle in 
general, and the quantity and quality of the 
milk of cows. 

Common cows, if suffered to lose their milk 
in August, become sufficiently fat for table use 
by October. Farrovz-heifers and steers are 
good beef, and fit for the knife at any period 
after the middle of May. Nothing is more 



288 peck's guide. 

common than for an Illinois farmer to go 
among his stock, select, shoot down, and dress 
a line beef, whenever fresh meat is needed. 
This is often divided out amongst the neigh- 
bors, who, in turn, kill and share likewise. It 
is comtnon at camp and other large meetings, 
to kill a beef and three or four hogs for the 
subsistence of friends from a distance,. 

Steers from three years old or more, have 
been purchased in great numbers in Illinois, 
by drovers from Ohio. Cattle are sometimes 
sent in flat-boats down the Mississippi and 
Ohio, for the New Orleans market. 

We can hardly place limits upon the amount 
of beef cattle that Illinois is capable of pro- 
ducing. A farmer calls himself poor, with a 
hundred head of horned cattle around him. 
A cow in the spring is worth from seven to 
ten or fifteen dollars. Some of the best quality 
will sell higher. And let it be distinctly un- 
derstood, once for all, that a poor man can 
always purchase horses, cattle, hogs, and pro- 
visions, for labor, either by the day, month, 
or job. 

Cows, in general, do not produce the same 
amount of milk, nor of as rich a quality as in 
older States. Something is to be attril)uted 
to the nature of oi:r pastures, and the warmth 
of our climate, but more to causes already 
assigned. If ever a land was characterized 
justly, as "flowing with milk and honey," it 
is Illinois and the adjacent States. From the 
springing of the grass till September, butter 
is made in great profusion. It sells at that 



ILLINOIS. 289 

season, in market, for about ten cents. With 
proper care, it can be preserved in tolerable 
sweetness tor winter use. Late in autumn 
and early in the winter, sometimes butter is 
not plenty. The feed becomes dry, the cows 
range further off, and do not come up readily 
for milking, and dry up. A very little trouble 
would enable a farmer to keep three or four 
good cows in fresh milk at the season most 
needed. 

Cheese is made by many families, especial- 
ly in the counties bordering on the Illinois 
river. Good cheese sells for eight and some- 
times ten cents, and finds a ready market. 

Swine. This species of stock may be called 
a staple in the provision of Illinois. Thou- 
sands of hogs are raised without any expense, 
except a {ew breeders to start with, and a 
little attention in hunting them on the range, 
and keeping them tame. 

Pork that is made in a domestic way, and 
fatted on corn, will sell from three to four and 
five dollars, according to size, quality, and 
the time when it is delivered. With a pasture 
of clover or blue grass, a well-filled corn crib, 
a dairy, and slop barrel, and the usual care 
that a New Englander bestows on his pigs, 
pork may be raised frorn the sow, fatted, and 
killed, and weigh from two hundred to two 
hundred and fifty, within twelve months; and 
this method of raising pork would be profit- 
able. 

Few families in the West and South put up 
their pork in salt pickle. Their method is to 



290 peck's guide. 

salt it sufficiently to prepare it for smoking, 
and then make bacon of hams, shoulders, and 
middlings or broadsides. The price of bacon, 
taking the hog round, is about seven and eight 
cents. Good hams command eight and ten 
cents in the St. Louis market. Stock hogs, 
weighing from sixty to one hundred pounds, 
alive, usually sell from one to two dollars per 
head. Families consume much more meat in 
the West, in proportion to numbers, than in 
the old States. 

Sheep do very well in this country, especial- 
ly in the older settlements, where the grass 
has become short, and they are less molested 
by wolves. 

Poultry is raised in great profusion; and 
large numbers of fowls taken to market. 

Ducks, geese, swans, and many other 
aquatic birds, visit our waters in the spring. 
The small lakes and sloughs are often literally 
covered with them. Ducks, and some of the 
rest, frequently stay through the summer and 
breed. 

The prairie fowl is seen in great numbers 
on the prairies in the summer, and about the 
cornfields, in the winter. This is the grouse 
of the New York market. They are easily 
taken in the winter. 

Partridges (the quail of New England), 
are taken with nets, in the winter, by hun- 
dreds in a day, and furnish no trifling item in 
the luxuries of the city market. 

Bees. These laborious and useful insects, 
are found in the trees of every forest. 



ILLINOIS. 291 

Many of the frontier people make it a promi- 
nent business, after the frost has killed the 
vegetation, to hunt them for the honey and 
wax, both of which find a ready market. 
Bees are profitable stock for the farmer, and 
are kept to a considerable extent. 

Silk-ivorms are raised by a few persons. 
They are capable of being produced to any 
extent, and fed on the common black mulberry 
of the country. 

Salt. The principal salines of this State 
have been mentioned under the head of min- 
erals. The principal works are at Gallatin, 
Big Muddy, and Vermilion salines. 

Steam Mills for flouring and sawing are be- 
coming very common, and in general are 
profitable. Some are now in operation with 
four run of stones, and which manufacture 
one hundred barrels of flour in a day. Mills 
propelled by steam, water, and animal power, 
are constantly increasing. Steam mills will 
become numerous, particularly in the southern 
and middle portions of the State; and it is 
deserving remark, that, while these portions 
are not well supplied with durable water 
power, they contain, in the timber of the 
forest, and the inexhaustible bodies of bitumi- 
nous coal, abundant supplies of fuel; while 
the northern portion, though deficient in fuel, 
has abundant water power. A good steam 
saw-mill with two saws, can be built for §1500; 
and a steam flouring-mill with two run of 
stones, elevators and other apparatus com- 
plete, and of sufficient force to turn out forty 



i292 peck's guide. 

or fifty barrels of flour per day, may be built 
for from $3500 to $5000. Ox-mills, on an in- 
clined plane, and horse-mills, by draught, are 
common through the country. 

Castor oil. Considerable quantities of this 
article have been manufactured in Illinois, 
from the palma christi, or castor-bean. One 
bushel of the beans will make nearly two gal- 
lons of the oil. There are five or six castor- 
oil presses in the State; in Madison, Randolph, 
Edwards, and perhaps in other counties. Mr. 
Adams, of Edwardsville, in 1825, made five 
hundred gallons, which then sold at the rate 
of $2 50 per gallon; — in 1826, he made eight 
hundred gallons; — in 1827, one thousand gal- 
lons, the price then, $1 75; — in 1828, one 
thousand eight hundred gallons, price $1 : — in 
1830, he started two presses, and made up- 
wards of ten thousand gallons, which sold for 
from seventy-five to eighty-seven cents per 
gallon; — in 1831, about the same quantity. 
That and the following season being unfavor- 
able for the production of the bean, there has 
been a falling ofi' in the quantity. The amount 
manufactured in other parts of the State has 
probably exceeded that made by Mr Adams. 

Lead. In Jo Daviess county are eight or 
ten furnaces for smelting lead. The amount 
of this article made annually at the mini;s of 
the Upper Mississippi, has been given under 
the head of minerals. 

Manufactures. In the infancy of a State, 
little can be expected in machinery and manu- 
factures. And in a region so much deficient 



ILLINOIS. 293 

in water power as some parts of Illinois are, 
still less may be looked for; yet Illinois is not 
entirely deficient in manufacturing enterprise. 

There is in this State, as in all the West- 
ern States, a large amount of domestic manu- 
factures made by families. All the trades, 
nedful to a new country, are in existence. 
Carpenters, wagon-makers, cabinet-makers, 
blacksmiths, tanners, &c., may be found in 
every county and town, and thousands more 
are wanted. 

There has been a considerable falling off in 
the manufacture of whisky within a few years, 
and it is sincerely hoped by thousands of our 
citizens that this branch of business, so de- 
cidedly injurious to the morals and happiness 
of communities and individuals, will entirely 
decline. Several companies, for manufactur- 
ing purposes, have been incorporated by the 
legislature, 

Boat-huilding will soon become a branch 
of business in this State. Some steam-boats 
have been constructed already within this 
State, along the Mississippi. It is thought 
that Alton and Chicago are convenient sites 
for this business. 

Civil Divisio7is. There are sixty-six coun- 
ties laid off in this State, fifty-nine of which 
are organized for judicial purposes. The 
counties of Will, Whiteside, Kane, Ogle, 
McHenry and Winnebago were laid off at the 
session of the legislature, Jan. 1836. The 
county of Will was formed from portions of 
Cook, Lasalle and Iroquois, with the town of 



294 



PECK S GUIDE. 



Juliet, near the junction of the Kankakee and 
Des Plaines, for its seat of justice. 

In this State there are no civil divisions into 
townships, as in Ohio, Indiana, &c. The 
township tracts of six miles square, in the 
public surveys, relate exclusively to the land 
system. The State is divided into three dis- 
tricts to elect representatives to Congress, and 
into six circuits for judicial purposes. 

Tabular View of the Counties. 



Counties. 



Adims, 

Alexander, 

Bond 

Calhoun, 

Champaign, .. 

Clark, 

Clav, 

Clinton 

Crawford, 

Coles, 

Cook, 

Edgar, 

Edward.-s, 

Effingiiani, 

Fayi^tte, 

Franklin, 

Fulton, 

Gallatin, 

Greenp, 

Hamilton, 

Hancock, 

Henry, (not or- 
ganized, . . . . 

Iroquois, 

Jackson, 



1825 
1819 
1817 
1825 
1833 

1819 

1824 
18-M 
1816 
1830 
18:t0, 
1823 
181-1 
183 1 1 
18211 
1818! 
1825! 
1812| 
]82!i 
1821 j 
1825| 



rj E 
8'0 
375 
360 
26f) 
864 

500 

620 
500 

378 
1248 

t 

fi4S 
200 
486 
684 
850 
590 
828 
912 
378 
775 



!1825! 800 
:1833i t 
'18161 576 



> 

/•■8 

249 

519 

151 

lOi 

451 

172 
414 
519 
680 
538 
7S8 
239 
129 
665 
759 
607 
1312 
1360 
460 
357 



;042 



S(!ats of Justice. 



(iumcv, .. 

2050| Unity, 

.3580Greeiiville 
lOOljGilead, ... 
1045'Crhanna, . 

34I3|5;=^"\'"'*^ 
Marshall, 

1648; \!av<v, lie, 

26!8Carlylp,... 

354'/ P.lesiine. . 

5125^0 ha 

98 6; •hit 

666«iPni^,T.„... 

20 )(■: Albion, 

' I055jEwington, .. 
i 3'^38[Vandalia, . 
i 555]|Frankfort, ,. 
I .5917iLpwi«town,. 
I 8660 Equality, ... 
12>74iCarrollton,.. 
j 2877:!V1cLpansl)oro 

3249 Carthage, . . . 



le-ston. 



118 

67 1164!('Not established), 
354 2783'Brownsville, .... 



,|175n.w. 
, 1 135 s. 
, I 19 m.s.w. 
,1134 w.n.w. 
,|l03 ?t.n.e. 

,j 82 e.Tue. 

.: 50 s e. 
, i 28 s.s.w. 
,100 c. 
, I 75 n.e. 
, 28 n.n.e. 
,100 n.e. 
,. ms.e. 
, 29 e.n.e. 

I 83.9. 
1135 n.v.TJO, 

, jlOO s.-s.e. 

90 w.n.io. 
I 76 s.s e. 
,,180 v.w. 

mOn.n.w. 
. 165n.7(.c. 
, 96 s.s.w. 



* If is pxperted the seat of justice of Clark county will be removed 
to .Mar.-hall , ten miles north-west from Darwin, and on the national 
road. The distance is computed to Marshall. 



ILLINOIS. 



295 



Counties. 



^ o : c— I ® 

Q fa i'^ E > 



Jasper, 1831 j 288 

Jefferson, 1819 57G 455 

Jo Daviess, ...1 18271 f I 492 

Johnson, 1 1812 486 316 

Kane.t il836; 1 

Knox, l]8J5i 792 180 

Lasalle, |1831 f 1 289 

Lawrence, '18211 550 6!8 

Macon, 1829 1404 S92 

Madison, il812i 750 1307 

Macoupen, 18291 720 624 

Marion, 11823 576 37-2 

McDonoush, ..[1825^ 576 304 

McHenry,J.... 183fii 



McLean, 

Mercer, 

Monroe, 

JMonfgoinery, . . 

Alorjjan, 

Ocie.J 

Peoria, 

Perrv, 

Pike, 

Pope, 

Putn:im, 



1830 1916 

1825 

1316 

1821 

18.>3 

1836 

1825 

1827 

1821 

1816 

1825 



496 



558 
360 

960 475 
1 50 2717 



449 



446 
800 
576 
1340 



Seats of Justice. 



415; Newton, 

3350! Mount Vernon, 



4038 
2166 

1600 
4754 
4450 
3022 
9016 
5554 
2844 
2883 



Galena, . 
Vienna,. 



Knoxville, 

Ottawa, 

Lawrenceville, , 

Decatur, 

Edwar<lsville, . . 
Carlinville, .... 

■'aiem, 

Macotnb, 



Randolph, ....11795 540 814 
Rock Island, ..11831 377, 83 
Sang. mon,....' 1821 1234 2219 

Schuyler, ;I835! 864 680 

Shell. V, I'^27il080 636 

St. Ciair 1795 1130 1183 

Tazewell, 182' 

Union, 'iSlI 

Vermilion 182- 

Wabash J824 

il825 

1818 

1819 

1815 

1836 

1836 

1836 



5311 Bloomington, .. 
497 Xew Boston, ... 

2i)60jU'aterloo, 

3740!Hillsboro' 

l9J14|Jacksonvillc, ., 

3220 j Peoria, , 

2iOl Pincknpyville,., 

6037 Piltstisld, 

3756|r;olconda, 

4021 I Hennepin , 

5695 Kaskaskia, 

616 ."^^tephenson,.. . . 

17573 Sprin2field 

636!lRuslivill,->, 

48 l8|ShpIbvviI|e, | 40 n.n.e. 



60 e. 

48 s.s.e. 
300 n n.w. 
120 5. 

18^ n.n.w. 
187 n. 
j 88 e.s.e. 

75 71. 

58 70. 

55 iD.n.w. 

"5 s.s.e. 
155 n.w. 

l-?On. 
209 n.w. 

72 s.w. 

28 n.w. 

91 n.w. 

141 n.n.w. 

71 s.s.w. 
126 w.n.w. 
no. s.s.e. 
180 n. 

90 s.s.w. 
-:20 n.w. 

79 n.n.w. 
il28 n.w. 



1>130 


433 


396 .5J5| 


1000 


1025 


180 


441 ! 


900 


2S6 


65!; 


•.m 


576 


471 


516 


977 








9.).'5 i'.cilvill" 

5850 Treniont, 

4156' Jonesboro', 

8 03iDinville, 

3010, Mount Carmel,., 

26231 Monmouth, 

3 '9-1, Nashville, 

2939 Fairfield, 

6489,Carmi , 



Warren, 

Washington, 

Wavne, 

Wh'ite, .... 
Whiteside, I . 

Will,| 1836| iJuIiet, 

Winnebago,}:. 

I These counties have been recently subdivided, and their super- 
ficial area is not known. 

X Thess counties were formed January, 1836, and were taken from 
Jo Daviess, Lasalle, Cook and Iroquois. The seats of justice not es- 
tablished, and much of the land unsurveyed, though rapidly settling. 



^'4 ID. s.w. 

131 71. 

120 s. 
135 n.e. 

95 s.e. 
184 7J.W. 

48 s.s.w. 

76 s e. 
103 s.e. 



296 peck's guide. 

The following is a sketch of each county 
in the State: 

Adams. — The streams are Bear creek and 
branches, Cedar, Tyrer, Mill, Fall, and Pigeon 
creeks, with the Mississippi river on its west- 
ern border. Timber various, with equal por- 
tions of prairie. First rate county. 

Alexander. — In the forks of the Ohio and 
Mississippi, with Cash river through it. All 
timbered, — half alluvion, — some inundated at 
high water, — lime and sandstone on the Ohio; 
— soil, generally rich. 

Bond. Shoal creek and its branches 

through it, with Hurricane creek on the east 
side; — proportioned into timber and prairie; 
raiher level; second rate. Sandstone, coal, 
and salt springs. 

Calhoun. — Long and narrow, in the forks 
of the Illinois and Mississippi; — alluvial and 
sometimes inundated along the rivers ; — 
broken bluffs and interior table land; — good 
soil; — prairies at the foot of the bluffs. Coal, 
lime and sandstone. 

Champaio^n. — The streams are the heads 
of the Kaskaskia, Sangamon, Vermilion of 
Illinois, Salt Fork of the Vermilion of the 
Wabash, and the Embarras, all running in 
opposite directions. Extensive prairies, a 
little undulating and rich; — timber in groves; 
— many granite bowlders. 

Clark.— North Fork of Embarras, Mill and 
Big creeks. Timber and prairie, — second 
rate soil. 



ILLINOIS. 297 

Clay. — Watered by Little Wabash and 
tributaries. Two thirds prairie, — of inferior 
quality, — rather level and wet. 

CliafGn. — Kaskaskia river, with its tribu- 
taries, Crooked, Shoal, Beaver and Sugar 
creeks pass through it. Equally proportioned 
into timber and prairie. Soil, second rate; 
surface, a little undulating. 

Coles. — The Kaskaskia, Embarras, and 
heads of the Little Wabash water it. Much 
excellent land, — muc:h undulating, rich prai- 
rie; — some level and wet land in the south- 
eastern part. Timber in sufficient quanti- 
ties. 

Cook. — Adjoins Lake Michigan, an<l has 
the branches of Chicago, Des Plaines, Du 
Page, Au Sable and Hickory creeks. Sur- 
face, tolerably level; rich soil, — extensive 
prairies, — timber in groves; — a few swamps. 
Plenty of limestone, and the streams run over 
rocky beds, 

Crawford. — The Wabash river on its east- 
ern side, with Lamotte, Hudson, Racoon and 
Sugar creeks. Some level prairies, rather 
sandy, with a full supply of timber. 

Edgar. — Watered by Big, Clear, and Bru- 
lette's creeks on the eastern, and Little Em- 
barras on its western side. Southern and 
eastern sides timbered; northern and western 
sides much prairie; some undulating, — some 
level and rather wet. Grand View is a 
delightful tract of country. 

Edwards. — The Little Wabash on its west- 
13* 



298 peck's guide, 

ern, and Bon Pas on its eastern border. 
Several prairies, high, undulating, and bound- 
ed by heavy timber. Soil, second quality. 

Effingham. — Watered by the Little Wa- 
bash and its tributaries; due proportion of 
timber and prairie; tolerably level, — second 
rate. 

Fayette. — Kaskaskia river. Hurricane, Hig- 
gens', Ramsey's and Beck's creeks. The 
bottom lands on the Kaskaskia low and inun- 
dated at high water; considerable prairie; 
much heavy timber; soil, second rale. 

Franklin. — Watered by the Big Muddy 
and its branches, and the South Fork of Saline 
creek. The prairies small, fertile and level, 
— timber plenty, — soil rather sandy. 

Fulton. — The Illinois on the south-eastern 
side, with Spoon river and several small 
creeks through it. About half heavily tim- 
bered, with rich, undulating prairies; streams 
flow over a pebbly bed; soil, first rate. 

Gallatin. — Joins the Wabash and Ohio 
rivers, and has the Saline and branches run- 
ning through it. Soil, sandy, with sandrock, 
limestone, quartz crystals, excellent salines, 
Etc. Timber of various kinds; no prairies. 

Greene — Has the Mississippi south, the 
Illinois west, with Otter, Macoupen and Apple 
creeks. Much excellent land, both timber 
and prairie, in due proportion, with abundance 
of lime, and sandstone, and coal. 

Hamilton. — Watered by branches of the 
Saline and Little Wabash; a large proportion, 



ILLINOIS. 299 

timbered land; soil, second and third rate, 
with some swamp in the northern part. Sand- 
stone and some lime. 

Hancock. — Besides the Mississippi, it has 
a part of Bear, Crooked, and Camp creeks; 
large prairies; timber along the streams; rich, 
first rate land. 

Henry — Has Rock river north, with Win- 
nebago swamp, and its outlet or Green river, 
and one of the heads of Spoon river, and 
Edwards river interior. Some rich, undula- 
ting prairies and groves, with considerable 
wet, swampy land. Not much population. 

Iroquois. — Kankakee, Iroquois and Sugar 
creek. Sand ridges and plains; much rich 
prairie; some timber, but deficient. It is 
found chiefly in groves and strips along the 
water courses. 

Jackson — Has the Mississippi on the south- 
west, and Muddy river running diagonally 
through it, with some of its tributaries. Seme 
prairies in the north-eastern part, — much 
heavy timber, — some hilly and broken land, — 
with abundance of coal, saline springs, lime 
and sandstone. 

Jasper. — The Embarras runs through it, 
and the Muddy Fork of the Little Wabash 
waters its western side. Much of both the 
prairie and timbered land is level and rather 
wet; some fertile tracts. 

Jefferson. — Watered by several branches 
of the Big Muddy and Little Wabash. Soil, 
second rate; surface, a little undulating; one 



300 peck's guide, 

third prairie; several sulphur and other medi- 
cinal springs. 

Jo Daviess — Formerly embraced all the 
State north-west of Rock river, but recently 
divided into three or four counties. Besides 
the Mississippi, it has Fever river, Pekatono- 
kee, Apple river, and Rush and Plum creeks. 
A rich county, both for agricultural and 
mining purposes. Timber scarce, and in 
groves; surface, undulating, — in some places 
hilly; well watered by streams and springs, 
and has good mill sites. Copper and lead ore 
in abundance, 

Johnson. — The Ohio on the south, Cash 
river and Big Bay creek, and a series of lakes 
or ponds interior. A timbered country, toler- 
ably level; soil sandy, with considerable quan- 
tities of second rate land. 

Knox. — Watered by Henderson and Spoon 
rivers, and their tributaries. The prairies 
large, moderately undulating, and first quality 
of soil, with excellent timber along the water 
courses. 

Lasalle. — Besides the Illinois river, which 
passes through it, Fox river, Big and Little 
Vermilion, Crow, Au Sable, Indian, Mason, 
Tomahawk, and other creeks, water this 
county. They generally run on a bed of sand 
or lime rock, and have but little alluvial bot- 
tom lands. Deficient in timber, but has an 
abundance of rich, undulating prairie, beau- 
tiful groves, abundant water privileges, and 
extensive coal banks. 



ILLINOIS. 301 

Lawrence. — The Wabash east, Fox river 
west, and Embarras and Racoon through it. 
An equal proportion of timber and prairie, 
some excellent, other parts inferior, — and 
some bad, miry swamps, called "^wrga/o- 
Wes." 

Macon. — South-east portion, watered by the 
Kaskaskia and tributaries; the middle and 
northern portions by the North Fork of San- 
gamon, and the north-western part by Salt 
creek. The prairies large, and in their inte- 
rior, level and wet, — towards the timber, dry, 
undulating and rich. 

Madison. — The Mississippi lies west; Ca- 
hokia and Silver creeks, and Wood river, run 
through it. A part of this county lies in the 
American bottom, and is a rich and level allu- 
vion; but much of the county is high, undu- 
lating, and proportionably divided into timber 
and prairie. Well supplied with stone quar- 
ries and coal banks. 

Macoupen. The Macoupen creek and 

branches water its central and western parts, 
the Cahokia, the south-eastern, and the heads 
of Wood river and Piasau, the south-western 
parts. A large proportion of the county is 
excellent soil, well proportioned into timber 
and prairie, and slightly undulating. 

Marion. — Watered by the East Fork, and 
Crooked creek, tributaries of Kaskaskia river, 
on its western, and heads of Skillet Fork of 
Little Wabash on its eastern sides. Much of 
the land of second quality, slightly undulating, 



302 



PECK S GUIDE. 



about one third timbered, — some of the prai- 
rie land level, and inclined to be wet. 

McDonough. Crooked creek and its 

branches water most of the county. The 
eastern side, for eight or ten miles in width, 
is prairie, — the western and middle parts 
suitably divided between prairie and forest 
land; surface, moderately undulating; soil, 
very rich. 

McLean. — One third of the eastern, and a 
portion of the northern side, is one vast prai- 
rie. The timber is beautifully arranged in 
groves; the surface moderately undulating, 
and the soil dry and rich. The head waters 
of the Sangamon, Mackinau, and the Ver- 
milion of the Illinois, are in this county. Its 
minerals are quarries of lime and sandstone, 
and granite bowlders, scattered over the 
prairies. 

Meyxer — Has the Mississippi on the west, 
and Pope and Edwards rivers interior, along 
which are fine tracts of timber; in its middle 
and eastern parts are extensive prairies; sur- 
face, generally undulating; soil, rich. 

Monroe. — Watered by Horse, Prairie de 
Long, and Fountain creeks. The American 
bottom adjacent to the Mississippi is rich allu- 
vion, and divided into timber and prairie. On 
the bluffs are ravines and sink-holes, with 
broken land. Further interior is a mixture of 
timber and prairie. Abundance of limestone, 
coal, and some copper. 

Montgomery. — Watered by Shoal creek 



303 



and branches, and Hurricane Fork. Surface, 
high and undulating, and proportionably di- 
vided into timber and prairie. Soil, second 
rate. 

Morgan. — A first rate county, — well pro- 
portioned into prairie and forest lands, — much 
of the surface undulating; watered by the Illi- 
nois river and Mauvaise-terre, Indian, Plum, 
Walnut, and Sandy creeks, and heads of 
Apple creek. Coal, lime and freestone. 

Peoria. — Watered by the Illinois, Kicka- 
poo, Copperas, Senatchwine, and heads of 
Spoon river. Surface, moderately rolling, 
rich soil, and proportionably divided into 
prairie and forest. 

Perry. — Streams; BigBeaucoup, and Little 
Muddy; one third prairie, tolerably level, and 
second rate soil. 

Pike. Besides Mississippi and Illinois, 

which wash two sides, it has the Suycartee 
slough running through its western border, 
and navigable for steam-boats, and a number 
of smaller creeks. The land and surface 
various, — much of it excellent undulating soil, 
— some rich alluvion, inundated at high water, 
— large tracts of table land, high, rolling, and 
rich, with due proportion of timber and prai- 
rie. A large salt spring. 

Pope. — With the Ohio river east and south, 
it has Big Bay, Lusk's, and Big creeks inte- 
rior. A timbered region, tolerably level, ex- 
cept at tlie bluffs, with good sandy soil, and 
sand and limestone. 



304 peck's guide. 

Putnam. — The Illinois runs through it, — 
Spoon river waters its north-vvestern part, and 
Bureau, Crow, Sandy, and some other streams, 
water its middle portions. Here are beautiiul 
groves of timber, and rich, undulating and 
dry prairies, fine springs, and good mill sites. 
Lime, sand and freestone, and bituminous 
coal. A Cew tracts of wet prairie, with some 
ponds and swamps, are in the north-western 
part. 

Randolph — Has the Mississippi along the 
western side; Kaskaskia river passes diago- 
nally through it; soil, of every quality, from 
first rate to indifferent; surface, equally as 
various, with rocky precipices at the termin- 
ation of the alluvial JDottcans. 

Rock Island — Is at the mouth of Rock riv- 
er, which, with the Mississippi and some 
minor streams, drain the county. Rich allu- 
vion along the Mississippi, with much excel- 
lent table land, — both timber and prairie inte- 
rior. Some wet, level prairie, south of Rock 
river. 

Sangamon. — Watered by Sangnmon river 
and its numerous branches. Much of the soil 
is of the richest quality, with due proportions 
of timber and prairie, moderately undulating, 
and a first rate county. 

Schuyler. — The south-eastern side has the 
Illinois, the interior has Crooked and Crane 
creeks, and the south-west has McKee's creek. 
Along the Illinois is much timber, with some 
inundated bottom lands. Interior, there is a 



ILLINOIS, 305 

due proportion of prairie, and timber, and rich 
soil, witli an undulating surface. 

Sh(;lbij — Is watered by the Kaskaskia and 
tributaries; has a large amount of excellent 
land, both timber and prairie, with good soil,^ 
moderately undulating. 

St. Clair. — The streams are Cahokia, 
Prairie du Pont, Ogle's, Silver, Richla^xid, and 
Prairie de Long creeks, and Kaskaskia river. 
The land is various, much of which is good, 
first and second rate, and proportionably di- 
vided into timber, prairie, and barrens. The 
minerals are lime and sandstone, and exten- 
sive beds of coal and shale. 

Tazcivdl. — Watered by the Illinois, Mack- 
inau, and their tributaries. Much of the 
surface is undulating, soil rich; prairie pre- 
dominates, but considerable timber, with some 
broken land about the bluffs of ?>]ackinau, and 
some sand ridges and swamps in the southern 
part of the county. 

Union. — Watered by the Mississippi, Clear 
creek, the heads of Cash, and some of the 
small tributaries of the Big Muddy. Much of 
the surface is rolling and hilly, — all forest 
land. Soil, second and third rate. Some rich 
alluvial bottom. 

Vermilion — Is watered by Big and Little 
Vermilion of the Wabash, with large bodies 
of excellent timber along the streams, and 
rich prairies interior. Surface, undulating^ 
and dry; soil, deep, rich and calcareous. 

Wabash — Has Wabash river on the east,. 
14 



306 peck's guide. 

Bon Pas on the west, and some small creeks 
central; surface, rolling, and a mixture of 
timber and prairie; soil, generally second 
rate. Minerals; lime and sandstone. 

Warren. — Besides the Mississippi, its prin- 
cipal stream is Henderson river, which passes 
through it, with Ellison, Honey, and Camp 
creeks. Much of the land on these streams 
is rich, undulating, dehcient somewhat in 
timber, with excellent prairie. Along the 
Mississippi, and about the mouth of Hender- 
son, the land is inundated in high water. 

Washingion — Has the Kaskaskia on its 
north-western side, with Elkhorn, Little Mud- 
dy, Beaucoup, and Little Crooked creeks in- 
terior. The prairies are rather level, and in 
places inclined to be wet; the timber, espe- 
cially along the Kaskaskia, heavy. 

Wayne. — The Little Wabash, with its trib- 
utaries, Elm river, and Skillet Fork, are its 
streams. It is proportionably interspersed 
with prairie and woodland, generally of second 
quality. 

White. — The eastern side washed by the 
Big Wabash, along which is a low, inundated 
bottom; the interior is watered by the Little 
Wabash and its tributaries. Some prairie, 
but mostly timber. Soil and surface various. 
Some rich bottom prairies, with sandy soil. 

Towns. Vandalia is the seat of govern- 
ment till 1840; after which, it is to be removed 
to Alton, according to a vote of the people, in 
1834, — unless they should otherwise direct. 



ILLINOIS. 307 

It is situated on the right bank of the Kaskas- 
kia river, in north latitude 39° 0' 42", and 
fifty-eight miles in a direct line, a little north 
of east from Alton. The public buildings are 
temporary. Population, about seven hundred 
and fifty. 

Alton. Two towns of this name are distin- 
guished as Alton, and Upper Alton. Alton is 
an incorporated town, situated on the bank of 
the Mississippi, two and a half miles above 
the mouth of the Missouri, and at the place 
where the curve of the Mississippi penetrates 
the furthest into Illinois, eighteen miles be- 
low the mouth of the Illinois river. For 
situation, commerce, business of all kinds, 
health, and rapidity of growth, it ftir exceeds 
any other town on the east bank of the Mis- 
sissippi, above New Orleans. The population 
is about two thousand. The commercial 
business done here is already immense, and 
extends through more than half of Illinois, 
besides a large trade on the western side of 
the Mississippi. Five large mercantile estab- 
lishments do wholesale business only, four do 
wholesale and retail, besides four wholesale 
and retail groceries, and fifteen or tv,'enty 
retail stores and groceries; and yet many 
more mercantile houses are necessary for the 
business of the country. Great facilities for 
business of almost every description, especial- 
ly for every kind of mechanics, are to be had 
here. It offers one of the best situations on 
the western v/aters for building and repairing 



308 peck's guide. 

steam-boats. Town lots and lands adjacent, 
have risen in value from five hundred to one 
thousand per cent, within the last twelve 
months. 

Alton has respectable and well finished 
houses of worship, for the Presbyterian, 
Methodist Protestant, and Baptist denomina- 
tions; two good schools, a lyceum, that holds 
weekly meetings, and two printing-offices. 
The population in general, is a moral, indus- 
trious, enterprising class. Few towns in the 
West have equalled this in contributions for 
public and benevolent objects, in proportion 
to age and population. 

Arrangements have been made for doing 
an extensive business in the slaughtering and 
packing of pork and beef Four houses are 
engaged in that line, which slaughtered about 
twenty-live thousand hogs the last season. 
Many buildings will be erected the present 
season, amongst which will be an extensive 
hotel, which is much needed. The town is 
situated at the base, side, and top, of the first 
blufis that extend to the river, above the 
mouth of the Kaskaskia. Adjacent to it, and 
which will eventually become amalgamated, 
is Middleton, laid oft' directly in the rear. 

Upper Allon is from two and a half to three 
miles back from the river, and in the rear of 
Lower Alton, on elevated ground, and in every 
respect a very healthy situation. It has ex- 
ceeding one hundred and twenty families, and 
is rapidly improving. Adjacent to it, and 



ILLINOIS. 309 

forming now a part of the town plat, is 
'' SkuHleff College, of Jlllon, Illinois,^' which 
bids fair to become an important and flourish- 
ing institution. Also, "Alton Theological 
Seminarij/^ which has commenced operations. 
Both these institutions have been gotten up 
under the influence and patronage of the 
Baptist denomination. A female seminary, 
of a high order, under the name of the '^Jll- 
ton Female Institute," has been chartered, and 
a building is about to be erected for the pur- 
pose. The Baptists, Methodists and Presby- 
terians have congregations here, and two 
houses of worship were built the past year. 

Chicas:o is the largest commercial town in 
Illinois. It is situated at the junction of 
north and south branches, and along the main 
Chicago, near its entrance into lake Michi- 
gan, on a level prairie, but elevated above 
the highest floods. A recent communication, 
from a respectable mercantile house, gives 
the following statistics: "Fifty-one stores, 
thirty groceries, ten taverns, twelve physi- 
cians, twenty-one attornies, and 4900 inhabit- 
ants. We have four churches, and two more 
building, one bank, a marine and fire insur- 
ance company about to go into operation, and 
a brick hotel containing ninety apartments. 

There were nine arrivals and departures of 
steam-boats in 1335, and two hundred and 
sixty-seven, of brigs and schooners, contain- 
ing 5015 tons of merchandise, and 9400 bar- 
rels of salt, besides lumber, provisions, &.c. 



310 peck's guide. 

The harbor now constructing by the United 
States government, will be so far completed 
in 1836, as to admit vessels and steam-boats 
navigating the lakes. A few miles back of 
Chicago, are extensive tracts of wet prairie. 

Galena is the seat of justice for Jo Daviess 
county, situated on Fever river, in the midst 
of the mining district. It has about twenty 
stores, a dozen groceries, and about 1000 
inhabitants. 

Sprin^jield is near the geographical centre 
of the State, and in the midst of a most fertile 
region of country. It is a flourishing inland 
town, and contains about 2000 inhabitants. 
Jacksonville, the county seat of Morgan coun- 
ty, has about the same population, and is 
equally delightful and flourishing. 

One mile west, on a most beautiful emi- 
nence, stands '^Illinois College,''' founded 
under the auspices of the Presbyterian de- 
nomination, and bids fair to become a flour- 
ishing seat of learning. 

I have not room to name, much less de- 
scribe, the many growing towns and villages 
in this State, that excite and deserve the 
attention of emigrants. On the Illinois river, 
are Ottawa, and several eligible sites in 
its vicinity, vvhere towns have commenced; 
Beardstown, a short distance below the mouth 
of Sangamon river; Peoria, at the foot of 
Peoria lake (a most beautiful site, and con- 
taining 1, 000 inhabitants); Meredosia, Naples, 
Pekin, Hennepin, &c. On the Mississippi, 



' ILLINOIS. 311 

are Quincy, Warsaw, New Boston, and Ste- 
phenson, the seat of justice for Rock Island 
county. Interior, are Bloomington, Decatur, 
Tremont, Shelbyville, Hillsboro', Edwards- 
ville, Carlyle, Belleville, Carrollton, and 
many others. Towards the Wabash, are 
Danville, Paris, Lawrenceviile, Carmi, and 
Mount Carmel; the last of \vhich has an 
importance, from being connected with the 
grand rapids of the Wabash. Shawneetown 
is the commercial depot for the south-eastern 
part of the State. On the military tract, are 
Rushville, Pittsfield, Griggsviile, Carthage, 
Macomb, Monmouth, Knoxville, Lewistown, 
Canton, &c. ; all pleasant sites, and having a 
population from two or three hundred to one 
thousand inhabitants. 

For a more particular description of each 
county, town and settlement, with all other 
particulars of Illinois, the reader is referred 
to "A Gazetteer of Illinois," by the au 
thor of this Guide. 

Projected Iniprovemenis. The project of 
uniting the waters of lake Michigan and the 
Illinois, by a canal, was conceived soon after 
the commencement of the Grand canal of 
New York; and a board of commissioners, 
with engineers, explored the route and esti- 
mated the cost, in 1823. Provision, by a 
grant of each alternate section of land within 
hve miles of the route, having been granted 
by Congress, another board of commissioners 
was appointed in 1829; a new survey was 



312 peck's guide. 

made, and the towns of Chicago and Ottawa 
laid off, and some lots sold in 1830. Various 
movements have since been made, but noth- 
ing effectually done, until the recent special 
session of the legislature, when an act was 
passed, to authorize the governor to borrow 
funds upon the faith of the State; a new 
board of commissioners has been organized, 
and this great work is about to be prosecuted 
with vigor to its completion. 

Funds, in part, have been provided, from 
the sales of certain saline lands l)elonging to 
the State, to improve the navigation of the 
Great Wabash, at the Grand liapids, near 
the mouth of White river, in conjunction 
with the State of Indiana. From the same 
source, funds are to be applied to the clearing 
out of several navigable water-courses, and 
repairing roads within the State. 

Charters have been granted to several rail- 
road companies, some of which have been 
surveyed, and the stock taken. One from 
Alton to Springfield was surveyed last year, 
and the stock subscribed in December. An- 
other from St. Louis, by the coal mines of St. 
Clair county, to Belleville, thirteen miles, is 
expected to be made immediately. The pro- 
ject of a central rail-way from the termination 
of the Illinois and Michigan canal, at the foot 
of the rapids, a Cew miles below Ottawa, 
through Bloomington, Decatur, Shelbyville, 
Vandalia, and on to the mouth of the Ohio 
river, has been entered upon with spirit. 



313 



Another charter contemplates the continu- 
ance of a route, already provided for in Indi- 
ana, and noticed under Ohio, from Lafa- 
yette, la., by Danville, Shelbyville, and Hills- 
boro', to Alton, the nearest point from the 
east to the Mississippi. A rail-road charter 
was granted, at a previous session of the 
legislature, from Meredosia to Jacksonville, 
and another from Vincennes to Chicago. 

We have only room to mention the follow- 
ing charters, which have recently been grant- 
ed, in addition to those already specified: 

One from Pekin to Tremont, in Tazewell 
county, nine miles. 

One from the Wabash, by Peoria, to War 
saw, in Hancock county. 

The Wabash and Mississippi rail-road com- 
pany. 

The Mount Carmel and Alton rail-road 
company. 

The Rush ville rail-road company. 

The Winchester, Lynville, and Jackson- 
ville rail-road company. 

The Shawneetown and Alton rail-road com- 
pany. 

The Pekin, Bloomington, and Wabash rail- 
road company. 

The Waverly and Grand Prairie rail-road 
company. 

The Galena and Chicago union rail-road 
company. 

The Wabash and Mississippi union rail- 
road company. 



314 peck's guide. 

The Mississippi, Carrollton, and Springfield 
rail-road company. 

The national road is in progress througli 
this State, and considerable has been made 
on that portion which lies between V^andalia 
and the boundary of Indiana. This road en- 
ters Illinois at the north-east corner of Clark 
county, and passes diagonally through Coles 
and Effingham counties, in a south-westerly 
course, to Vandalia, a distance of ninety 
miles. The road is established eighty feet 
wide, the central part thirty feet wide, raised 
above standing water, and not to exceed 
three degrees from a level. The base of all 
the abutments of bridges must be equal in 
thickness to one third of the height of the 
abutment. 

The road is not yet placed in a traveling 
condition. The line of the road is nearly 
direct; the loss, in ninety miles, being only 
the eighty-eighth part of one per cent. Be- 
tween Vandalia and Evvington, for twenty- 
three miles, it does not deviate in the least 
from a direct line. 

From Vandalia, westward, the road is not 
yet located; but it will probably pass to Alton. 

Education. The same provision has been 
made for this as other Western States, in the 
disposal of the public lands. The section, 
numbered sixteen, in each township of land, 
is sold upon petition of the people within the 
township, and the avails constitute a perma- 
nent fund, the interest of which is annually 



ILLINOIS. 



315 



applied towards the expenses, in part, of the 
education of those who attend school, living 
within the township. 

A school system, in part, has been arrang- 
ed by the legislature. The peculiar and un- 
equal division of the country into timber and 
prairie lands, and the inequality of settlements 
consequent thereupon, will prevent, for many 
years to come, the organization of school 
districts with defined geographical boundaries. 
To meet this inconvenience, the legislature 
has provided, that any number of persons can 
elect three trustees, employ a teacher in any 
mode they choose, and receive their propor- 
tion of the avails of the school funds. In all 
cases, however, the teacher must keep a daily 
account of each scholar who attends school, and 
make out a schedule of the aggregate that each 
scholar attends, every six months, and present 
it, certified by the trustees of the school, to 
the school commissioner of the county, who 
apportions the money accordingly. 

This State receives three per cent, on all 
the net avails of public lands sold in this 
State, which, with the avails of two townships 
sold, makes a respectable and rapidly in- 
creasing fund, the interest only of which can 
be expended, and that only to the payment of 
instructers. 

Good common school teachers, both male 
and female, are greatly needed, and will meet 
with ready employ and liberal wages. Here 
is a most delightful and inviting field for 



316 feck's guide. 

Christian activity. Common school, with 
Sunday school instruction, calls for thousands 
of teachers in the West, 

Several respectable academies are in oper- 
ation, and the wants and feelings of the com- 
munity call for many more. Besides the col- 
leges at Jacksonville and Alton, already no- 
ticed, others are projected, and several have 
been chartered. The Methodist denomina- 
tion have a building erected, and a prepara- 
tory school commenced, at Lebanon, St. Clair 
county. The Episcopalians are about estab- 
lishing a college at Springfield. One or more 
will be demanded in the northern and eastern 
portions of the State; and it may be calculat- 
ed, that, in a very brief period, the State of 
Illinois will furnish facilities for a useful and 
general education, equal to those in any part 
of the country. 

Government. The constitution of Illinois 
was formed by a convention, held at Kaskas- 
kia, in August, 1818. It provides for the 
distribution of the powers of government into 
three distinct departments, — the legislative, 
executive, and judiciary. The legislative 
authority is vested in a general assembly, 
consisting of a senate and house of represen- 
tatives. Elections are held biennially, as are 
the ordinary sessions of the legislature. Sen- 
ators are elected for four years. 

The executive power is vested in the gov- 
ernor, who is chosen every fourth year, by 
the electors for representatives; but the same 



ILLINOIS. 



317 



person is ineligible for the next succeeding 
four years. The lieutenant governor is also 
chosen every four years. 

The judicial power is vested in a supreme 
court, and such inferior courts as the general 
assembly, from time to time, shall establish. 
The supreme court consists of a chief justice 
and three associate judges. 

The governor and judges of the supreme 
court constitute a council of revision, to 
which all bills, that have passed the assembly, 
must be submitted. If objected to by the 
council of revision, the same may become a 
law, by the vote of a majority of all the mem- 
bers elected to both houses. 

The right of suffrage is universal. All 
white male inhabitants, citizens of the United 
States, twenty-one years of age, and who 
have resided withiti the State six months next 
preceding the elections, enjoy the right of 
voting. Votes are oiven rii'a voce. The in- 
troduction of slavery is prohibited. The con- 
stitution can only be altered by a convention. 

General Rimnrks. 1. Farms, somewhat 
improved, are almost daily exchanging own- 
ers, and a considerable spirit of enter])rise 
has been awakened within a year or two past. 
The prices of farms and improvements vary 
greatly, and are influenced much by factitious 
and local circumstances. From St. Clair 
county, northward, they average, probably, 
from five to ten dollars per acre, and are 
rising in value. In some counties, farms will 



318 



PECK S GUIDE. 



cost from two to five dollars per acre. A farm 
in Illinois, however, means a tract of land, 
much of it in a state of nature, with some 
cheap, and, frequently, log-buildings; with 
twenty, forty, sixty, eighty or one hundred 
acres, fenced and cultivated. Good dwellings 
of brick, stone or wood, begin to be erected. 
Among the old residents, there have been but 
few barns built. 

The want of adequate supplies of lumber, 
and of mechanics, renders good buildings 
more expensive than in the new counties of 
New England or New York. 

2. Merchants' goods, groceries, household 
furniture and almost every necessary and 
comfort in house-keeping, can be purchased 
here; and many articles retail at about the 
same prices as in the Atlantic States. 

3. The following table will exhibit the cost 
of three hundred and twenty acres of land, at 
Congress price, and preparing one hundred 
and sixty acres for cultivation or prairie land: 

Cost of 320 acres, at S'l 25 per acre, $400 

Breaking up 160 acres prairie, at $2 per acre, . 320 
Fencing it into four fields, with a Kentucky fence 

of eight rails high, with cross stakes, 175 

Cabins, corn-cribs, stable, &c., 250 

Making the cost of the farm, $>'1145 

In many instances, a single crop of wheat 
will pay for the land, for fencing, breaking 
up, cultivating, harvesting, threshing, and 
taking to market. 

4. All kinds of mechanical labor, especially 



ILLINOIS. 319 

in the building line, are in great demand; 
even very coarse and common workmen get 
almost any price they ask. Journeymen 
mechanics get ^2 per day. A carpenter or 
brick mason wants no other capital, to do 
first-rate business, and soon become indepen- 
dent, than a set of tools, and habits of indus- 
try, sobriety, economy and enterprise. 

5. Common laborers on a farm obtain from 
^12 to ^15 per month, including board. Any 
young man, with industrious habits, can begin 
here without a dollar, and in a very few years 
become a substantial farmer. A good cradler 
in the harvest-field, will earn from ,$1 50 to 
$2 per day. 

6. Mucli that we have stated in reference 
to Illinois, will equally apply to Missouri, or 
any other Western State. Many general 
principles have been laid down, and particu- 
lar facts exhibited, with respect to the general 
description of the State, soil, timber, kinds of 
land, and other characteristics, under Illinois, 
and, to save repetition, are omitted elsewhere. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MISSOURI. 

Extent and Boundaries — Civil Divisions — Population at 

different Periods — Surface, Soil and Productions 

Towns. 



Length, two hundred and seventy-eight; 
medium breadth, two hundred and thirty-live 
miles: containing 64,530 square miles, and 
41,280,000 acres. 

Bounded north by the Des Moines country, 
or New Purchase, attached to Wisconsin 
Territory, west by Indian Territory, south 
by Arkansas, and east by the Mississippi 
river; — Between 36° and 40° 37' north lati- 
tude, and between 1 1° 15' and 17° 30' west 
longitude. 

Civil Divisions. It is divided into fifty 
counties, as follows: — Barry, Benton, Boone, 
Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Chari- 
ton, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, 
Franklin, Gasconade, Green, Howard, Jack- 
son, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lewis, 
Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Mont- 



From 


lucre ise. 


1810 to 1820, . 


. 46,753 


1820 " 1824, . 


. 14,500 


1824 " 1830, . 


. 60,455 


1830 " 1832, . 


. 35,820 


1832 " 1836, . 


. 33,724 



MISSOURI, 3^1 

gomery, r-^Iorgan, New Madrid, Perry, PettiSj 
Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Randolph, Ralls, Ray, 
Ripley, Rives, St. Francis, Ste. Genevieve, 
St. Charles, St. Louis, Saline, Scott, Shelby, 
Stoddart, Van Buren, Warren, Washington 
and Wayne. 

Popv.lalion at Different Periods. 

In r.iiHilalion. 

1810 (excluding 

Arkansas), . . . 1!>,833 

1820, G(>,586 

1824, 80,000 

1830, 140,455 

1832, 176,276 

1836, estimated,. 210,000 

The constitution is similar to that of Illinois, 
in its broad features, excepting the holding 
of slaves is allowed, and the General Assembly 
has no power to pass laws for the emancipa- 
tion of slaves, without the consent of their 
owners, or paying an equivalent. It is made 
the duty of the General Assem!)ly " to oblige 
the owners of slaves to treat them with hu- 
manity, and to abstain from aii injuries to 
them extending to life or limb." " Slaves 
shall not be deprived of an impartial trial by 
jury." In 183:2, there were in the State, 
32,184 slaves, and 661 free colored persons. 
Every free white male citizen has the right of 
suffrage, after a residence in the State of one 
year. 

Surface, Soil and Productions. The surface 
of this State is greatly diversified. South of 
14# 



322 



Cape Girardeau, Avith the exception of some 
bluff's along the Mississippi, it is entirely allu- 
vial, and a large proportion consists of swamp 
and inundated lands, the most of" which are 
heavily timbered. From thence to the Mis- 
souri river, and westward to the dividing 
grounds between the waters of the Osage and 
Gasconade rivers, the country is generally 
timbered, rolling, and in some parts, quite 
hilly. No part of Missouri, however, is strict- 
ly mountainous. Along the waters of Gascon- 
ade and Black rivers the hills are frequently 
abrupt and rocky, with strips of rich alluvion 

along the water-courses. Much of this region 

. . . 

abounds with minerals of various descriptions. 

Lead, iron, coal, gypsum, manganese, zinc, 
antimony, cobalt, ochre of various kinds, 
common salt, nitre, plumbago, porphyry, jas- 
per, chalcydony, buhrstone, marble and free- 
stone, of various qualities. The lead and iron 
ore are literally exhaustless, and of the rich- 
est quality. To say there is probably iron ore 
enough in this region to supply the United 
States with iron for one hundred thousand 
3'ears to come, would not be extravagant. 
Here, too, is water power in abundance, 
rapid streams, with pebbly beds, forests of 
timber and exhaustless beds of bituminous 
coal. The only difficulty of working this vast 
body of minerals is the inconvenience of get- 
ting its proceeds to the Mississippi. The 
streams that rise in this region, run different 
courses into the Missouri, the Mississippi and 



MISSOURI. S':ZS 

the Arkansas, but they are too rapid and 
winding in their courses to afford safe and 
easy navigation. 

\Vere the rafts now lodged in the St. Fran- 
cois removed by the agency of government, as 
they have been in Red river, the lower section 
of the mineral country could be reached by 
steam-boat navigation. The citizens of St. 
Louis, very recently, have entered upon the 
project of a railway from that city, through 
the heart of this country, to the fine, farming 
lands, in the south-western part of the State. 
Such a project, carried into effect, would open 
a boundless field of wealth in JVjissouri. 

The western part of the State is divided in- 
to prairie and forest land, much of which is 
fertile. Along the Osage, it is hilly, and 
the whole is undulating, and regarded as a 
healthy region, abounding with good water, 
salt springs and limestone. North of the Mis- 
souri the fiice of the country is diversified, 
with a mixtiire of timber and prairie. From 
the Missouri to Salt river, good springs are 
scarce, and in several counties it is difficult 
to obtain permanent water by digging v» ells. 
Artificial wells, as they may be called, are 
made by digging a well forty or fifty feet deep, 
and replenishing it with a current of rain wa- 
ter from the roof of the dwelling-house. ?»Tuch 
of the prairie land in this part of the State is 
inferior to the first quality of prairie land 
in Illinois, as the soil is more cfayey, and 
does not so readily absorb the water. Ec- 



324 peck's guide. 

tween Salt river and Des Moines, are beauti- 
ful, rich lands. The counties of Ralls, Ma- 
rion, Monroe, Lev/is and Shelby are first rate. 
The counties of Warren, Montgomery, Calla- 
way, Boone, Howard and Chariton, all lying 
on the north side of the Missouri river, are 
rolling; in some places are bluffs and hills, 
with considerable good prairie, and an abun- 
dance of timbered land. Further west, the 
proportion of prairie increases to the boundary 
line, as it does to the northward of Boone, 
Howard and Chariton counties. After making 
ample deductions for inferior soil, ranges of 
barren hills, and large tracts of swamp, as in 
the south, the State of Missouri contains a vast 
proportion of excellent farming land. The 
people, generally, are enterprising, hardy and 
industrious; and most of those who hold slaves, 
perform labor with them. Emigrants from 
every State and several countries of Europe, 
are found here, but the basis of the population 
is from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. 
The natural productions of Missouri are simi- 
lar to those States already described, and the 
agricultural productions are the same as Illi- 
nois, except that more tobacco is produced in 
the middle, and considerable quantities of cot- 
ton in the southern counties. 

Toicus. The city of Jefferson is the politi- 
cal capital of the State. It is situated on the 
right bank of the Missouri, a Cew miles above 
the mouth of the Osage, and about one hun- 
dred and thirty-eight miles from St. Louis. It 



MISSOURI. 325 

is a small town, with little business, except 
what pertains to the government of the State, 
A state house, governor's house and peniten- 
tiary have been erected. 

St. Louis is the commercial capital, and 
the most important place in all this portion of 
the Valley of the Mississippi. It stands on 
the western bank of the Mississippi, one hun- 
dred and eighty miles above the junction of 
the Ohio, eighteen miles below that of the 
Missouri, and thirty-eight miles below that of 
the Illinois. It is beautifully situated on as- 
cending and elevated ground, which spreads 
out into an undulating surface to the west for 
many miles. Two streets are parallel with 
the river on the first bank, and the rest of the 
city stands on the second bank; but very little 
grading is necessary, to give the streets run- 
ning back from the river their proper inclina- 
tion. The old streets, designed only for a 
French village, are too narrow for public con- 
venience, but a large part of the city has been 
laid out on a liberal scale. The Indian and 
Spanish trade, the fur and peltry business, 
lead, government agencies, army supplies, 
surveys of government lands, with the regular 
trade of an extensive interior country, makes 
St. Louis a place of great business, in propor- 
tion to its population, which is about 10,000. 

The following, from the register of the 
wharf-master, will exhibit the commerce for 
1835:— 



326 peck's guide. 

Steam-boat Register. 

Number of different boats arrived, 121 

Aggregate of tonnage, 15,470 

Nuiiiber of arrivals, 803 

Wharfage collected, $4,573 60 

Wood and Lumber, liable to wharfage. 

Plank, joist and scantling, 1,414,330 feet. 

Shingles, 148,000 " 

Cedar posts, 7,706 " 

Fire-vi'ood, 8,066 cords. 

The proportionate increase of business will 
be seen by reference to the following registry 
for 1831: — 

Different steam-boats arrived, 60 

Average amount of tonnage, 7,769 

^^umb€r of entiies, 532 

The morality, intelligence and enterprise of 
this city is equal to any other in the West, in 
proportion to its size. The American popu- 
lation is most numerous, but there are many 
French, Irish and Germans. About one third 
of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics. The 
Presbyterians, Methodists and Episcopalians 
have large congregations and houses of wor- 
ship: the Baptists and Unitarians are rather 
small, and without public edifices. The Ro- 
man Catholic cathedral is a costly building, 
of freestone, and has a splendid chime of 
bells, sent over from Europe. St. Louis is a 
pleasant and healthy situation, and surround- 
ed by a fertile country. 

V/e have not space to give particulars re- 
specting many interesting and flourishing 
towns in Missouri. 



MISSOURI. 327 

Cape Girardeau is a commercial depot for 
the southern part of the State. Ste. Gene- 
vieve stands a little back from the river, and 
is known only as an old French village, 

Selma is a landing and depot for the lead 
mine country, thirty-eight miles below St 
Louis. Clarksville, Louisiana, Marion city, 
Hannibal, Saverton and La Grange are com- 
mercial sites on the Mississippi, above the 
mouth of Missouri, Palmyra is a beautiful 
town, of about one thousand inhabitants, and 
the seat of justice for Marion county. Along 
the Missouri, are Portland, Rocheport, Boon- 
ville, Lexington, Independence, and ma?jy 
other places of various degrees of importance. 
Franklin formerly stood on the north bank of 
Missouri, but most of it has been removed, 
three miles interior, to the bluffs, Potosi is a 
central town in the mineral district, Fulton, 
Columbia and Fayette are the seats of justice 
for Callaway, Boone and Howard counties, 
and are pleasant and flourishing towns. 

About the same provision for education has 
been made in this as in other Western States, 
and a disposition to encourage schools, acad- 
emies and colleges is fast increasing. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ARKANf'AS. 

Situation and Extent — Civil Divisions — Rivers — Face of 

the Country Soil — Water Prod uctioiis — Climate — 

Minerals — State of Society. 



Arkansas, which has recently formed a con- 
stitution, and has been received into the na- 
tional Union, lies between 33° and 36° 30' 
north latitude, and between 13° 30' and 17° 
45' west longitude. Length, two hundred and 
thirty-five; medium breadth, two hundred and 
twenty-two miles; containing about 50,000 
square miles, or 32,000,000 acres. 

Civil Divisions. The following are the 
counties, with the population, from the census 
taken in 1835: — 

Couiities. Popula.rouiities. Popiila. Counties. Popula. 

Arkansas,. 2,080 Independence, 2, GSslpiiillips, . . . 1,518 

l,357Izarci, l,879|Pike, 449 

2,471 Jackson,. . . . 891 Pope, .... 1,318 
1,2)4 Jefferson, 1,474'Pulaski, . . . 3,513 



Carroll, . 
Chicot, . . 
Conway, 
Clark, . . 
Crawford, 
Crittenden 
Greene, . . 



1,285 Johnson, . 
3,139 Lafayette, 
1,407 Lawrence, 
. 971 Miller, . . . 
Hempstead, 2, 955 Mississippi, 
Hot-Spring, 6,1 17 Monroe, . . 



.1,803 Scott, .... 100 

.1,446 Sevier, 1,350 

.3,844 St. Francis,. 1,896 
.1,373 Union,. ... 878 
. 600 Van Buren, . 855 
. 556 Washington, 6,742 

Total, 58,212 



ARKANSAS. 3:29 

Another table we have seen, makes out the 
population, as officially reported (with the ex- 
ception of two counties, troni which returns 
had not been made), to be 51,809; — white 
males, 22,585; white females, 19,386; — total 
whites, 41,971: slaves, 9,629; — free persons 
of color, 209. The population, in 1830, 
30,388;— in 1833, 40,660. 

The following graphic description of Arkan- 
sas, is taken from a letter from Rev. Harvey 
Woods, in that State, to the editor of the 
Cincinnati Journal, and is corroborated by 
testimony in our possession, from various 
correspondents. It was written in 1835. 

" Arkansas Territory is a part of that vast 
country ceded to the United States, by France, 
in 1803. From the time of the purchase, till 
lately, the tide of emigration hardly reached 
thus far. In 1800, the population was 1052. 
Arkansas was erected into a Territory, in 
1819. At this time it is receiving a share of 
those who retire beyond the Mississippi. 

" Rivers. The Territory is admirably in- 
tersected with navigable rivers; the Missis- 
sippi on the east, the great Red river on the 
south. Between these, and running general- 
ly trom north-west to south-east, are the St. 
Francois, White, Arkansas and Washitau 
rivers, all fine streams for steam-boat navi- 
gation. 

" Face of the Country. It is various. No- 
country affords more diversified scenery. The 
country in the east, for one hundred miles, is 
15 



330 peck's guide. 

flat, with marshes and swamps; in the middle, 
broken and hilly; and in the west, hilly and 
mountainous. There are some prairies, some 
thickly timbered land, some heavy timbered. 
The country is generally a timbered country. 
Some parts are sandy, some rocky, and some 
flinty. 

" Soil. Should a man travel here, and ex- 
pect to find all good land, he would be sadly 
disappointed. The best lands are generally 
contiguous to the rivers and creeks; and 
these are exceedingly fertile, not surpassed 
by any soil in the United States. Arkansas 
soil, that is rich, has just sand enough to 
make it lively and elastic. Our best lands 
are covered with walnut, hackbei'ry, mulber- 
ry, oak, ash, grape vines, &c. 

" Water. The hilly and mountainous parts 
are well supplied with springs, limestone and 
freestone. Also good streams for mills. In 
the flat country, good water is easily obtained 
by digging. 

" Productions. Cotton and corn are the prin- 
cipal. The Arkansas cottons commanded the 
best price last season, in the Liverpool mar- 
ket. It is a country of unequalled advantages 
for raising horses, mules, cattle and hogs. 

" Climate. It is mild, and, from its difl^er- 
ence in latitude, say from 32° 40' to 36° 30' 
N., and the difference in local situation, we 
would guess, and correctly too, that there is 
much difference in the health of different 
places; the high and northern parts healthy, 



ARKANSAS. 331 

and the flat and southern subject to agues 
and bilious fevers. The climate has been 
considered unhealthy to new settlers; but it 
is not more so than other new countries. 

"■Minerals. There are quantities of iron, 
lead, coal, salt, and, it is asserted by some, 
silver. There are many salt and sulphur 
springs. On the Arkansas river, beyond the 
limits of the Territory proper, is a section of 
country called the salt prairie, which, accord- 
ing to good authority, is covered, for many 
miles, from four to six inches deep, with pure 
white salt. In the Hot Spring country, are 
the famous hot springs, much resorted to by 
persons of chronic and paralytic diseases. 
The temperature, in dry, hot weather, is at 
boiling point. 

" State of Society. The general character of 
the people is brave, hardy and enterprising, 
— frequently without the polish of literature, 
yet kind and hospitable. The people are now 
rapidly improving in morals and intellect. 
They are as ready to encourage schools, the 
preaching of the gospel, and the benevolent 
enterprises of the age, as any people in new 
countries. The consequences of living here 
a long time, without the opportunity of edu- 
cating their children, and destitute of the 
means of grace, are, among this population, 
just what they always will be under similar 
circumstances. Ministers of all denomina- 
tions are 'few and far between.' We have 
no need here to build on others' foundation. 



332 peck's guide. 

" I am living in Jackson county, on White 
river. This county has a larger quantity of 
good land than any one in the Territory. 
White river is always navigable for steam- 
boats to this place, three hundred and fifty 
miles from its mouth. Well water is good, — 
some fine springs. Washington county, and 
some others, that have the reputation of bet- 
ter health, are more populous. 

" We want settlers; and we have no doubt, 
that vast numbers of families in the States, 
particularly the poor, and those in moderate 
circumstances, would better their situation by 
coming here, where they can get plenty of 
fertile and fresh land at government price, — 
$1,25 per acre. They can have good range, 
and all the advantages of new countries. 
Emigrants, however, ought not to suffer 
themselves to expect all sunshine, and no 
winter. We have cloudy days and cold 
weather, even in Arkansas! If they have 
heard of the honey pond, where flitters grow 
on trees, they need not be surprised, if they 
don't find it. Cabins cannot be built, wells 
dug, farms opened, rails made, and meeting- 
houses and school-houses erected, without 
work. 

" It may be asked, ' If Arkansas be so fine a 
country, why has it not been settled faster.'" 
There are, perhaps, three reasons: — a fear of 
the Indians, a fear of sickness, a fear of bad 
roads. The Indians are now all peaceably 
situated beyond the Territory proper, and are 



ARKANSAS. 333 

blessed with the labors of a number of good 
pious missionaries, who are teaching them to 
read the Bible, and showing the tall sons of 
the forest the way that leads to heaven. 
Sickness is no more to be dreaded here, than 
in Illinois and Missouri. The roads have 
indeed been bad. For a long time, no one 
could venture through the Mississippi swamps, 
unless he was a Daniel Boone. But appro- 
priations have been made, by Congress, for 
several roads. This summer (1835), roads 
from Memphis to Little Rock, and to Litch- 
field and Batesville, and other points, will be 
completed. An appropriation of upwards of 
^100,000 has been made, to construct a road 
through the Mississippi swamp. 

" Again: we want settlers, — we want physi- 
cians, lawyers, ministers, mechanics and 
farmers. We want such, however, and only 
such, as will make good neighbors. If any, 
who think of coming to live with us, are gam- 
blers, drunkards, Sabbath-breakers, profane 
swearers, or the like, we hope that, when 
they leave their old country, they will leave 
their old habits." 

The constitution of this State, in its essen- 
tial features, is similar to Missouri, and other 
south-western States. 



CHAPTER XV 



WISCONSIN TERRITORY. 

Boundaries and Extent — Rivers — Soil — Productions — 
Towns, &c. 

Under this name, is now comprehended an 
extensive district of country, lying on both 
sides of the Mississippi river, above Illinois 
and Missouri, and extending indefinitely north. 
That portion lying betwixt the northern boun- 
dary of Illinois and the Wisconsin river, and 
from lake Michigan to the Mississippi, has 
the Indian title extinguished, and, in part, 
has been surveyed and brought into market. 
There is much excellent land in this part of 
the Territory, and it is well watered with 
perennial streams and springs. Offices are 
opened, for the sale of public lands, at Min- 
eral Point and Green Bay, and a large amount 
has been sold, and some at a high price. 
The country immediately bordering on lake 
Michigan, is well timbered, with various trees. 
Here are red, white, black and burr oaks, 
beech, ash, linden, poplar, walnut, hickory, 



WISCONSIN TERRITORY. 335 

sugar and white maple, elm, birch, hemlock 
and pine, with many other kinds. The soil is 
not so deep and dark a mould as in the prai- 
ries of Illinois, but is fertile and easily culti- 
vated; it is sandy, especially about the town 
of Green Bay. Towards the lake, and near 
the body of water called Sturgeon Bay, con- 
nected with Green Bay, and between that and 
the lake, are extensive swamps and cranberry 
marshes. Wild rice, tamarisk and spruce 
grow here. About Rock river, and from 
thence to the Mississippi, there is much ex- 
cellent land, but a deficiency of timber. Lead 
and copper ore, and probably other minerals, 
abound in this part of the country. Along to 
the east and north of the Four lakes, are 
alternate quagmires and sand-ridges, for fifty 
miles or more, called by the French coureurs 
du hois, '' ierre tremblant^^ (trembling land), 
the character of which is sufficiently indicated 
by the name. 

There are several small lakes in the district 
of country we are now examining; the largest 
of which is Winnebago, situated thirty or for- 
ty miles south of Green Bay. It is about ten 
miles long and three broad, and is full of wild 
rice: Fox river passes through it. Kushka- 
nong is situated on Rock river, between Cat- 
fish and Whitewater; it is six or eight miles in 
diameter, with some swamps and quagmires 
in its vicinity. 

The Four lakes are strung along on a stream 
called Catfish, which enters Rock river twen- 



336 peck's guide. 

ty-five or thirty miles above the boundary of 
Illinois, They are six or eight miles long, 
abounding with fish, and are surrounded with 
an excellent farming country. 

Green Bay settlement and village is two 
hundred and thirty miles north of Chicago; 
two hundred and twenty north-east from Ga- 
lena; one hundred and twenty from Fort 
Winnebago, and in north latitude 44° 44'. 
^avarino is a town recently commenced in 
this vicinity, with an excellent harbor, grows 
rapidly, and bids fair to become a place of 
importance. Property has risen the last year 
most astonishingly. 

Fort Winnebago is a military post, at the 
bend, and on the right bank of Fox river, 
opposite the portage. From thence to the 
Wisconsin, is a low, wet prairie, of three 
fourths of a mile, through which, a company 
has been chartered to cut a canal. On this 
route, the first explorers reached the Missis- 
sippi, in 1673. The Wisconsin river, how- 
ever, without considerable improvement, is 
not navigable for steam-boats, at ordinary 
stages of the water, without much trouble. 
It is full of bars, islands, rocks, and has a 
devious channel. 

The streams that rise in the eastern part of 
this Territory and How into lake Michigan, 
north of the boundary of Illinois, are in order 
as follows: 1. Pipe cieek, a small stream, but 
a {ew miles from the boundary: 2. Root river: 
3. Milwaukee, ninety miles from Chicago, 



WISCONSIN TERRITORY. 337 

which rises in the swampy country, south 
of Winnebago lake, runs a south-easterly 
course, and after receiving the Menomone, 
forms Milwaukee bay. Here is a town site, 
on both sides of the river, with a population 
of six or eight hundred, which promises to 
become a place of business. The soil up the 
Milwaukee is good, from six to twelve inches 
in depth, a black loam and sand. Passing 
northward down the lake, is Oak creek, nine 
miles below Milwaukee; thence twenty-one 
miles is Sauk creek, a small stream. Seven- 
ty miles from Milwaukee is Shab-wi-wi-a-gun. 
Here is found white pine, maple, beech, birch 
and spruce, but very little oak: the surface 
level and sandy. Pigeon river is fifteen or 
twenty miles further on, with excellent land 
on its borders; timber, maple, ash, beech, 
linden, elm, &.c. Fifteen miles further down 
is Manatawok. Here commences the hem- 
lock, with considerable pine. This stream is 
about forty or fifty miles from Green Bay set- 
tlement. Twin rivers are below Manatawok, 
with a sandy soil, and good timber of pine and 
other varieties. From Milwaukee to Green 
Bay, by a surveyed route, is one hundred and 
twelve miles; by the Indian trail, commonly 
traveled, one hundred and thirty-five miles. 
North of the Wisconsin river is Crawford 
county, of which Prairie du Chien is the seat 
of justice. From the great bend at Fort W^in- 
nebago, across towards the Mississippi, is a 
series of abrupt hills, rising several hundred 



338 peck's guide. 

feet, and covered with a dense forest of elm, 
linden, oak, walnut, ash, sugar-maple, &c. 
The soil is rich, but too hilly and broken for 
agricultural purposes. There is no alluvial 
soil or bottoms along the streams, or grass in 
the forests. 

The Wisconsin river rises in an unexplored 
country, towards lake Superior. The coureurs 
du hois and voyageurs represent it as a cold, 
mountainous, dreary region, with swamps. 

West of the Mississippi, above Des Moines, 
and extending northward to a point some dis- 
tance above the northern boundary of Illinois, 
and for fifty miles interior, is a valuable coun- 
try, purchased of the Indians, in 1832. Its 
streams rise in the great prairies, and run an 
east or south-east course into the Mississippi. 
The most noted are Flint, Skunk, Wau-be-se- 
pin-e-con, Upper and Lower Iowa rivers, and 
Turkey, Cattish and Big and Little Ma-quo- 
ka-tois or Bear creeks. The soil, in general, 
is excellent, and very much resembles the 
military tract in Illinois. The water is excel- 
lent, plenty of lime, sand and freestone, ex- 
tensive prairies, but a deficiency of timber a 
few miles interior. About Dubuque, opposite 
Galena, are extensive and rich lead mines. 
Burlington is a town at the Flint hills, opposite 
Warren county, Illinois, containing a popula- 
tion of seven hundred. Dubuque is situated 
on the Mississippi, on a sandy bottom, above 
high water, and fourteen miles north-west 
from Galena. It has about sixty stores and 



WISCONSIN TERRITORY. 339 

groceries, two taverns, two churches, and 
about one thousand inhabitants, and we have 
before us the prospectus for the " Dubuque 
Visitor," a weekly newspaper. Peru is in 
the vicinity, and contains about five hundred 
inhabitants. The New Purchase, as this dis- 
trict of country is called, is divided into two 
counties, Dubuque and Des Moines, and con- 
tains a population of eight or ten thousand. 

This Territory has, heretofore, for civil 
purposes, formed a part of the late Michigan 
Territory; — but in 1836 it was erected into a 
territorial government, by an act of Congress. 
The population has been recently estimated, 
by the legislature of the Territory, at 30,000. 

Probably not many years will elapse before 
two new States will be formed out of this dis- 
trict of country, the one on the eastern and the 
other on the western side of the Mississippi, 



CHAPTER XVI 



LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 

Colleges — Statistical Sketch of each Denomination — Field 
for Effort, and Progress made. 

In giving a sketch of literary and religious 
institutions in the West, the very limited 
space remaining to be occupied in this work, 
compels me to throw together a few general 
facts only. The author has made some pro- 
gress in collecting materials, and he designs 
to prepare another work soon, in which a va- 
riety of particulars and sketches will be given 
of the early history, progress of literary and 
religious institutions, colleges, seminaries and 
churches, Bible, Sunday school, education, 
and other kindred societies in the Western 
Valley, with the present aspect of each de- 
nomination of Christians. The interest taken 
in the affairs of the West, and the anxiety 
evinced by the community for facts and par- 
ticulars on those subjects, demand that they 
should be treated more in detail than the 
limits of this Guide will allow. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 341 

1. COLLEGES. 

Western Pennsylvania — Has Jefferson 
College, at Canoiisburgh, which the Presbyte- 
rians originated in 1 80^2, from the first grammar 
school ever established by Protestants west of 
the Alleghany mountains. Graduates, in 1835, 
forty-six; new students admitted, seventy-five; 
present number, two hundred and thirty (in- 
cluding the preparatory department), of which 
one hundred and thirty-five profess religion. 
Course of mathematics and physical sciences 
greatly extended, with practical application 
to civil engineering. Instruction provided in 
Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, Portu- 
guese and Italian; — provision for manual la- 
bor; — expenses moderate. 

Washington College, at Washington, Penn., 
also connected with the Presbyterian denom- 
ination, founded in 1806; had one hundred 
and forty students in 183*2. 

Alleghany College, at Meadville, was found- 
ed in 1815, by Rev. T. Alden, has a valuable 
library of eight thousand volumes, principally 
the donation of the late Rev. Dr. Bentley, of 
Salem, Mass., a distinguished benefactor of 
this institution. The college did not flourish 
for some years, and it is now transferred to 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and is under 
charge of the Pittsburgh Conference. It now 
promises to be successful. 

The Western University of Pennsylvania was 
founded in 1820. The number of graduates, 
in 1832, was fifty; of under graduates, in all 



342 peck's guide. 

departments, seventy. A beautiful college 
edifice has been erected in the western part 
of Pittsburgh, for this institution. 

There is no collegiate institution in Western 
Virginia. 

Ohio. — Ohio University, at Athens, was 
founded in 180:2; has an endowment of forty- 
six thousand and eighty acres of land, which 
yields ^2,300 annually. A large and elegant 
edifice of brick was erected in 1817. The 
number of students, about ninety. 

Miami University was founded in 1824, and 
is a flourishing institution at Oxford, Butler 
county, thirty-seven miles from Cincinnati. 
It possesses the township of land in which it 
is situated, and from which it receives an in- 
come of about ^5000. Number of students, 
about two hundred. Patronized by Presbyte- 
rians. 

The Cincinnati College was incorporated in 
1819, — continued to be sustained as a clas- 
sical institution for some years, and then 
suspended operations. It has been revived 
and reorganized lately and will probably be 
sustained. 

Kenyo7i College, at Gambier, Knox county, 
in a central part of the State, was established 
in 1828, through the eflJbrts of Rev. Philander 
Chase, then bishop of the Ohio Diocess, who 
obtained about 5^30,000 in England to endow 
it. Its chief patrons were those excellent 
British noblemen, lords Kenyon and Gambier. 
It is under Episcopal jurisdiction, and has a 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 343 

theological department, for the education of 
candidates for the ministry in the Episcopal 
church. It has about one hundred and fifty 
students. 

Western Reserve College is at Hudson. It 
was founded by Presbyterians and Congrega- 
tionalists, in 18'26, and has eighty-two students 
in all its departments. 

Franklin College is in New Athens, Har- 
rison county, on the eastern side of the State, 
and has about fifty students. 

The Granville Literary and Theological In- 
stitution originated under patronas;e of the 
Baptist denomination in 1831. It is designed 
to embrace four departments, — preparatory, 
English, collegiate, and theological. It is 
rapidly rising, and contains more than one 
hundred students. 

Oberlin Institnte has been recently estab- 
lished in Lorrian county, under the influence 
of "new measure" Presbyterians, with four 
departments, and hastwo hundred and seventy- 
six students, as follows: In the theological 
department, thirty-five; collegiate, thirty- 
seven; preparatory, thirty-one; female, seven- 
ty-three. The citizens of Cleaveland have 
recently contributed to it ^15,000, of which 
six persons gave ^1000 each. 

The Willibough Collegiate Institute is in the 
lake country of Ohio, and has been gotten up 
within a few years past. 

Marietta Collegiate Institute is said to be a 
flourishing and respectable institution, having 



344 peck's guide. 

a large number of students in various depart- 
ments. 

Indiana, — Indiana College is a State insti- 
tution, established at Bloomington, and com- 
menced operations in 1828, Present number 
of students not known. In 1832, the number 
exceeded fifty. 

Hanover College is at South Hanover, six 
miles below the town of Madison, and near 
the Ohio river. It is a flourishing institution, 
with arrangements for manual labor, and is 
styled "South Hanover College and Indiana 
Theological Seminary." The number of stu- 
dents exceeds one hundred. 

Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, has just 
commenced operations under auspicious cir- 
cumstances. Under patronage of the Pres- 
byterians. 

Illinois. — Illinois College, near Jackson- 
ville, commenced as a preparatory school in 
1830, and has made rapid progress. Large 
funds for its endowment have been recently 
provided in the Eastern States. The number 
of students about eighty. 

Shiirtleff College of Alton, Illinois, was com- 
menced under the efforts of Baptists at Alton, 
in 1832, as a preparatory institution; — char- 
tered, as a college, in February, 1835, and 
has been recently named in honor of a liberal 
patron, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Boston, 
Mass., who has presented the institution with 
^10,000. It has sixty students, and its pros- 
pects are encouraging. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 345 

McKendreean College has been chartered, 
a building erected, and a school commenced 
at Lebanon. It is connected with the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church. Charters have been 
recently granted for other colleges in this 
State, and measures adopted to bring some of 
them into existence. The Rev. Philander 
Chase, whose persevering labors brought into 
existence and successful operation, Kenyon 
college in Ohio, and who is now bishop of 
Illinois, is at present in England, where, by 
recent advices, he has obtained ^50,000 to 
invest in Illinois lands, and to establish a 
college for the interests of the Episcopal 
church. 

Missouri. — The Roman Catholics have 
two institutions of a collegiate character, es- 
tablished in this State. 

St. Mary's College, in Perry county, was 
established by bishop Du Bourg, in 1822. 
It has six thousand volumes in the library. 
Including the nunnery, and school for females, 
a seminary for the education of priests, a pre- 
paratory, and a primary school, the number 
of teachers and students, are about three 
hundred. 

St. Louis University was founded in 1829, and 
is conducted by the Fathers of the Society of 
Jesuits. The edifice is one hundred and 
thirty feet by forty, of four stories, including 
the basement, and is situated on elevated and 
pleasant ground, on the confines of the city. 
15* 



346 peck's guide. 

For the Protestants, the following institu- 
tions have been established: 

Columbia College, adjacent to Columbia, 
Boon county. The institution opened in 1835, 
under encouraging circumstances. 

Marion College is in a delightful tract of 
country, a prairie region, in the western part 
of Marion county, — and has between eighty 
and one hundred students. It is connected 
with the Presbyterian interests. The project, 
as developed by some of its founders, is an 
immense one, including English, scientific, 
classical, theological, medical, agricultural, 
and law departments, — all to be sustained by 
manual labor, and the proceeds of extensive 
farms. Doubtless, by prudent and persever- 
ing efforts, a respectable college may be 
brought into successful operation. 

A college at St. Charles, has been founded, 
principally by the liberality of George Collier, 
a merchant of St. Louis, and two or three 
other gentlemen, and a classical and scientific 
school has been commenced. 

Arkansas. ^ — Efforts are making to establish 
a college by Presbyterian agency, at Cane 
Hill, in this newly formed State. Two or 
three collegiate institutions will soon be need- 
ed in this region. 

Kentucky. — Transylvania University at 
Lexington, is the oldest collegiate institution 
in the West. It was commenced, by a grant 
of eight thousand acres of land by the legis- 
lature of Virginia, in 1783, and was then 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 347 

called "Transylvania Seminary." The "Ken- 
tucky Academy" was founded in 1794, and 
both institutions were united and incorporated 
in 1798, under the present name. It has 
classical, medical, law, and preparatory de- 
partments, and including each, from three to 
four hundred students. 

Center College, at Danville, was founded by 
the Presbyterian church, in 1818, for which 
the synod of Kentucky pledged <^!20,000, 
Number of students, about one hundred. 

Augusta College was founded in 1822, by 
the Ohio and Kentucky conferences of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. It adopted col- 
legiate regulations in 1828. Number of stu- 
dents in the collegiate, academical and prima- 
ry departments, about two hundred. 

Cumberland College was incorporated in 
1824, and is established at Princeton, in the 
western part of the State. It is under the 
patronage and jurisdiction of the Cumberland 
Presbyterians. A farm, including a tract of 
five thousand acres of land, with workshops, 
furnish facilities for manual labor. It has 
about eighty students. 

St. Joseph's College, is a Roman Catholic 
institution, at Bardstown, with college build- 
ings sufficient to accommodate two hundred 
students, and valued at g60,000. It com- 
menced with four students in 1820. In 1833, 
there were in the collegiate and preparatory 
departments, one hundred and twenty students. 
The St. Thomas and St. Mary seminaries, 



348 PECK^S GUIDE. 

are also under the charge of Roman Cathoh'c 
priests, the one in Nelson county, four miles 
from Bardstown, and tlse other in Washington 
county. 

Gem'geto%vn College, in Scott county, was 
founded by the Baptist denomination, in 1830; 
but for some years it has been in other hands, 
and in not a prosperous condition. The 
Campbellites obtained a preponderating influ- 
ence over it. After much contention, an 
arrangement has been effected to place it 
under the influence of the denomination to 
whom it fairly belonged, and the Rev. B. F, 
Farnsvv'orth has been elected president, and 
has accepted the office. It is expected to 
prosper under this arrangement. 

Tennessee. — The University of J\ashville is 
a prominent institution. The laboratory is one 
of the finest in the United States, and the 
mineralogical cabinet not exceeded, and this 
department, as well as every other in the col- 
lege, is superintended with much talent. The 
number of students is about one hundred. 

Greenville, Knoxville and Washington col- 
leges are in East Tennessee. 

Jackson College is about to be removed 
from its present site, and located at Columbia; 
^^25,000 have been subscribed for the purpose. 
A Presbyterian Theological Seminary is at 
JMaryville. 

Mississippi. — Jefferson College is at Wash- 
ington, six miles from Natchez. It has not 
flourished as a college, and is now said to be 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 349 

conducted somewhat on the principle of a 
military academy. 

Oakland College has been recently founded 
by Presbyterians, and bids fair to exert a 
beneficial influence upon religion and morals, 
much needed in that State. The Baptist de- 
nomination are taking measures to establish a 
collegiate institution in that State. 

Louisiana — Has a college at Jackson, in 
the eastern part of the State. The Roman 
Catholics have a college at New Orleans. 

Alabama. — There is a respectable colle- 
giate institution, under the fostering care of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, at La Grange, 
in the north-western part of this State. 

Academies have been established in various 
parts of the West, for both sexes, and there 
are female seminaries of character and stand- 
ing at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Granville, Louis- 
ville, Lexington, Nashville, and many other 
places. Several more colleges, and a large 
number of minor institutions, will be needed 
very shortly to supply the demands for edu- 
cation in the West. The public mind is 
awake to the subject of education, and much 
has already been done, though a greater work 
has yet to be accomplished to supply the wants 
of the West in literary institutions. 

An annual convention is held in Cincinnati, 
on the first Monday in October, denominated 
the " Western Institute and College of Profes- 
sional Teachers.'' Its object, according to 
the constitution, is, "to promote by every 



350 peck's guide. 

laudable means, the diffusion of knowledge in 
regard to education, and especially by aiming 
at the elevation cf the character of teachers, 
who shall have adopted instruction as their 
regular profession." The first meeting was 
held in 18r31, under the auspices of the 
"Academic Institute," a previously existing 
institution, but of more limited operations. 
The second convention, in 1832, framed a 
constitution and chose officers, since which 
time regular meetings have been held by del- 
egates or individuals from various parts of the 
West, and a volume of Transactions of three 
or four hundred pages published annually. 

II. THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

The Western Theological Seminary at Alleg- 
hany town, opposite Pittsburgh, is under the 
jurisdiction of the general assembly of the 
Presbyterian church. It commenced opera- 
tions in 1829. At Canonsburg is a seminary 
belonging to the Associate church, of which 
Dr. Ramsey is professor. The Associate 
Reformed church have a theological school in 
Pittsburgh, under charge of the Rev. John T. 
Pressly, D. D. The Baptist denomination are 
now engacred in establisbino- a manual labor 
academy in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, for both 
ministerial and general education. 

The theological departments of Oberlin, 
Granville, and other collegiate institutions, 
have already been noticed. Lane Sem'inanj, 
near Cincinnati, was founded in 1830, by 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 351 

Messrs. E. & W. A. Lane, merchants, of 
New Orleans, who made a very liberal offer 
of aid. Its location is excellent, two and a 
half miles from Cincinnati, at Walnut Hills, 
and is under the charge of the Rev. Dr. 
Beecher, and a body of professors. Number 
of students about forty. The Hanover Insti- 
tntion in Indiana, has been noticed already. 
In the theological department are three pro- 
fessors and twelve students. The Baptists in 
this State are about establishing a manual 
labor seminary for ministerial and general 
education. 

A valuable property has been purchased, 
adjoining Covington, Ky., opposite Cincinna- 
ti, and measures have been put in train to 
found a theological seminary by the Baptist 
denomination. The executive committee of 
the " Westei-n Baptist Education Society," 
have this object in charge. The "Alton 
Theological Semwar?/," located at Upper Al- 
ton, Illinois, is under an organization distinct 
from that of Shurtleff College, already noticed. 
This institution has fifty acres of valuable 
land, and a stone edifice of respectable size, 
occupied at present in joint concern with the 
college, and a valuable library of several 
hundred volumes. Its organization has been 
but recently effected. Rev. L. Colby is pro- 
fessor, with eight students. Other institu- 
tions, having theological education, either in 
whole or in part, their object, are in contem- 
plation. 

Two remarks, by way of explanation, are 



352 peck's guide. 

here necessary. 1. Most of the colleges and 
theological schools of the Western Valley, 
have facilities for manual labor, or are making 
that provision. In several, some of the stu- 
dents pay half, and even the whole of their 
expenses, by their own efforts. Public senti- 
ment is awake to this subject, and is gaining 
ground. 2. In enumerating the students, the 
members of the preparatory departments are 
included, many of whom do not expect to pass 
through a regular collegiate course. The 
circumstances and wants of the country, from 
its rapid growth, seem to require the appen- 
dage of a large preparatory department to 
every college. 

It may be well, to observe here, that a 
great and increasing demand exists in all the 
Western States, and especially those border- 
ing on the Mississippi, for teachers of primary 
schools. Hundreds and thousands of moral, 
intelligent and pious persons, male and fe- 
male, would meet with encouragement and 
success in this department of labor. It is 
altogether unnecessary tor such persons to 
write to their friends, to make inquiries 
whether there are openings, &c. If they 
come from the older States, with the proper 
recommendations as to character and qualifi- 
cations, they will not fail to meet with em- 
ployment in almost any quarter to which they 
may direct their course. There is not a 
county in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, or 
Indiana, where persons would not meet with 
constant employment in teaching, and espe- 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. C353 

cially where teachers in Sabbath schools are 
needed. Persons desirous of such a f.eld of 
humble, yet useful labor, should ccme here 
with the fixed purpose to mix with, and con- 
form to the usages of the western popula- 
tion, to avoid fastidiousness, and to submit to 
the plain, frank, social and hospitable manners 
of the people. 

III. DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUMS. 

There are two institutions of this descrip- 
tion in the West: one at Columbus, Ohio; 
the other at Danville, Ky. The one in Ohio 
contains about fifty pupils. 

IV. MEDtCAL LXSTITUTIONS. 

The medical department in Transylvania, 
university, Kentucky, has six professors, and 
usually about two hundred students to attend 
the lectures. Fees for an entire course, with 
matriculation and library, one hundred and 
ten dollars. Two medical institutions of re- 
spectable standing exist in Cincinnati: one 
connected with the ^jiami university, the 
other with Cincinnati college. 

The Ohio Refurmed Medical Sclicol v as- 
established at Worthington, nine miles north 
of Columbus, in 1830. No specified time ia- 
required for study; but when a student will, 
pass examination, he is licensed to practice. 

V. LAW SCHOOLS. 

The law department of Transylvania uni- 
versity is under the charge of two able pro- 
fessors, who hear recitations and deliver lec- 
16 



354 peck's guide. 

tures. The average number of students is 
about forty. 

A law school was established at Cincinnati, 
in 1833, with tour professors: — Messrs. John 
C. Wright, John M. Goodenow, Edward 
King and Timothy Walker. The bar, the 
institution and the city have recently sustain- 
ed a severe loss in the decease of Mr. King. 

VI. BENEVOLENT AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 

To enumerate and give particulars of all 
these, would make a volume. We can but 
barely call the attention of the reader to some 
of the more prominent organizations amongst 
the different Christian denominations in this 
great Valley, for doing good. 

The Foreign Missionary Society of the Val- 
ley of the Mississippi, is a prominent auxiliary 
of the American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions. Its seat is Cincinnati; 
but by agencies and branches, it operates 
throughout the Valley. The Report of No- 
vember, 1835, states, that eighteen thousand 
six hundred and fifty-eight dollars had been 
received into the treasury the preceding year. 
An edition of 3000 copies of the Missionary 
Herald is republished in Cincinnati, for cir- 
culation in the West. 

The Western Education Society, connected 
with the American Education Society, has 
also its seat of operations at Cincinnati. Aux- 
iliaries also exist in most of the Western 
States. Seventy-one beneficiaries were un- 
der its charge at the last anniversary. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 355 

The American Tract Society has auxiliaries 
and agencies in most of the Western States. 
The operations of the American Bible Society, 
through its numerous auxiliaries, is felt to the 
remotest parts of the West. 

The American Sunday School Union has 
recently established a central agency in Cin- 
cinnati, and is preparing to renew and greatly 
enlarge its very important efforts for the ben- 
efit of the rising generation in the West. 

A series of very interesting anniversaries 
are held in Cincinnati the first week in No- 
vember, when all the great objects of Chris- 
tian effort receive a renewed impulse. 

The American Home Missionary Society has 
more than two hundred missionaries laboring 
in the States west of the mountains. In 
1835, they assisted two hundred and seven- 
teen Presbyterian ministers in this field. 

The Temperance effort has not been neglect- 
ed, and an interesting change is going for- 
ward, in a quiet and noiseless way, in the 
habits of the people, in reterence to the use 
of intoxicating liquors. It is to be hoped, 
that more prompt and vigorous efforts will be 
made to promote this cause; but even now, 
there are many thousands, who abstain from 
the use of spirituous liqtiors without any for- 
mal pledge. 

The Mithodist Episcopal church, in addi- 
tion to their regular system of circuits, are 
extending the influence of their denomination 
on the frontiers, by missionary operations, 
and their labors are prospered. 



356 peck's guide. 

The Bapdst denoimnaiion have made snne 
im})oitant maveinents in the Western ^' alley 
within the last three jears. Their He nie 
i\ ission Society has neaily one hundred mis- 
sionaries in the West, In November, 1833, 
the " Gtntral Convtniion of Western BapiisiS^* 
was organized by more than one hundied 
ministeis and brethren, assembled iW m vaii- 
ous |)arts of the West. It is not an ecclesi- 
astical body, claiming jurisdiction either over 
churches or ministers, nor is it strictly a mis- 
sionary body. Its business, accoiding to the 
constitution, is, "to promote, by all lawiul 
means, the following objects, to wit: — Mis- 
sions, both foreign and domestic; ministerial 
education, for such as may have tirst been 
licensed by the churches; Sunday schools, 
including l^ible classes; religi(;us periodicals; 
tract and temperance societies; as well as all 
others v.arjanted by Chiist in the gospel " 

At its second session, in 1834, the " fVtst- 
crn Bapiist Ediicailon Sotiefy'" was foimcd. 
Its object is "the education oi'those who give 
evidence to the churches of which they are 
members, that God designs them for the min- 
istry." The executive conmiittee are charg- 
ed temj)orarily with establishing the C'ential 
Theological Seminary, already mentioned, at 
Covington, Ky. 

Many other interesting associations for 
humane, philanthropic and religious purposes, 
exist in the Valley, which are necessarily 
omitted. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 357 

VI[. THE PERlOniCAL PRESS. 

The number of different periodicals pub- 
lished in the Valley of the Mississippi must 
exceed four hundred, of which twelve or fif- 
teen are daily papers. There are twenty-five 
weekly periodicals in Mississippi, one hun- 
dred and sixteen in Ohio, thirty-eight in Indi- 
ana, nineteen in Illinois, seventeen in Mis- 
souri, three, and probably more, in Arkansas, 
two, at least, in Wisconsin Territory. The 
WisUrn Mjntlily Mio;azinii, published at Cin- 
cimati, is well known. The fVeslern Lilera- 
ry Jjiirnal and Mon'hly Rt:view is a respecta- 
ble periodical, under the editorial manage- 
ment of W. D. Gallagher, Esq. The Western 
Journal of the M'd'ical and Physical Sciences, 
edited by Daniel Drake, M. D., Professor of 
Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Cin- 
cinnati college, is published quarterly, in 
Cincinnati. There are a number of religious 
weekly, semi-monthly and monthly periodicals, 
devoted to the interests of the principal de- 
nominations through the Valley. There are 
known to be at least one in Western Virginia, 
two in Western Pennsylvania, seven in Ohio, 
four in Kentucky, four in Tennessee, two in 
Illinois, two in Missouri, and one in New 
Orleans. Supposing the average number of 
copies of western periodicals equalled seven 
hundred and fifty, this, estimating the different 
periodicals at four hundred, would give three 
hundred thousand! We see no marked and 
essential difl^erence in the talent with which 



358 peck's guide. 

the editorial press is conducted, between the 
Eastern and Western States. The limits of 
this work will not allow me to add lurther 
evidence that our western population are not 
all " illiterate," and that " not more than one 
person in ten can read," than the following 
epitome of the issues of one of the publishing- 
houses in Cincinnati, as exhibited in the Cin- 
cinnati Journal. 

" Western Enterprise. The enterprise of 
the West is not generally appreciated. As a 
specimen, we have procured from Messrs. 
Corey & Webster the following list of books, 
published by them within the last three years. 
These books are of sterling value. 

Western Primer, 60,000 

Webster's Spelling Book, 600,000 

Primary Reader, 7,500 

Elementary Reader, 37,000 

Western " 16,000 

Webster's History of the United States,. . . . 4,000 

Miss Beecher's Geography, 15,000 

Pocket Testament, 6,500 

Watts' and Select H3'mns, 8,000 

Beecher's Lectures on Skepticism, (three 

editions, 1000 each), 3,000 

Stowe's Introduction to the Study of the Bible, 1 ,500 

Christian Lyre, 2,000 

Mitchell's Chemistry,. . 1,000 

Eberle on the Diseases of Children, 2,000 

Eberle's Notes of Practice, 1,500 

Young Lady's Assistant in Drawing, 1,000 

Munsell's Map, 3,500 

Chase's Statutes of Ohio, (three volumes,) , 1,000 

Hammond's Reports, (sixth volume,) 500 

Total, 771,000 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 



359 



Probably some of the many other publishers 
in the city have got out nearly or quite as 
many books. Truly, we are a book-making 
and book-reading nation." 

VIII. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 

In exhibiting the following statistics, entire 
correctness is not attempted. In some of the 
States, the latest reports have been had; in 
others, the author has taken data of two or 
three years date. Of the numbers of some of 
the numerous sects existing, the opinions of 
individuals have been the chief data he could 
obtain. 

1. Baptists. 



M-.VTES AND P.V 



RTS OF States. 



Western Pennsylvania, 
Western Virginia, . . , 

Ohio, 

Michigan, 

Indiana, 

Illinois, 

Missouri, 

Arkansas, 

Louisiana, 

Mississippi, 

North Alabama, . . . . 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 



Total, 



50 

89 



2,569 
3,306 



332 


175 


13,926 


60 


30 


1,700 


320 


175 


15,000 


240 


163 


6,741 


180 


115 


6,990 


25 


18 


700 


20 


12 


1,000 


100 


46 


4,000 


125 


53 


5,700 


348 


292 


22,868 


558 


296 


38,817 



244711353 123317 



Periodicals. The Cross and Journal, weekly, 
and Baptist Advocate, monthly, at Cincinnati; 



360 



PECK S GUIDE. 



the B%ptist Banner, weekly, at Shelbyville, Ky. ; 
the Baptist, a large m )ntlily quarto, at Nash- 
ville, Tenn.; the Western Pioneer and Baptist 
Standard- Bearer, weekly, at Upper Alton, III. ; 
and the Witness, a small quarto, weekly, at 
Pittsburgh. 

2. Mtlwdists (Episcopal). This denomina- 
tion is divided into conferences, which are not 
arranged exactly with the boundaries of the 
States. A large book and printing-office is es- 
tablished at Cincinnati, where all the society's 
publications are kept for sale. Another de- 
pository is kept at Nashville. 





1 


J 



















S 
















^ 


i> 






E 


Conferenoos. 


^ • 


^ 


t: 


^• 


= -c 




"icS 


■ .-i 


t 


E 


- % 




E .- 


JZ 


■^ 


^ 


"H ~ 




"-' Z 


't^ 


"-J 


- 


E-- = 


Mississippi, 


55 


6,358 


2,622 


727 


~9,707 


Al;il):iriiii, (one Dis- 












trict ill the Valley.) 


16 


3,051 


490 




3,543 


Pittsburgh, ....'.. 


156 


4rj.55 


296 




40,451 


Ohio, 


204 


62,686 


544 


217 


63,447 


Missouri, (including 












ArkiinsHs,) 


'7 


7,048 


1,061 


889 


9,898 


Kentucky, 


100 


25,777 


5,592 




31,369 


Illinois, 


6 

70 

62 

120 


15,03S 

24,984 
2],55-> 
2!\^f)4 


59 
229 

2,478 
5,043 


508 


15,097 


Jn<li;ina, 


25,2 '3 


Holston, 


24,031 


Tennessee, 


35,345 















Total, 

Allowing two local to one 
which is rather under than 



901 237,350 18,416 2,341 258,101 

circnit preacher, 
over the propor- 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 361 

tion, would make 1802, which, added to the 
number of those whose names arc on the 
minutes of the conferences, would make 2703 
jNiethodist Episcopal ministers of the gospel 
in t!ie Valley of the IMississippi. The Pitts- 
bur^h Conference Journal, JVestern Christian 
Advocate, and Western Methodist, are their 
J eriodicals. 

3. Methodists [Protestant). There are two 
conferences of this denomination, in the West; 
the Pittsburgh and Ohio conferences and their 
circuits, preaching-stations and members, ex- 
tend through the States north of the Ohio riv- 
ei', witli a few stations and churches south. 

Pittsbur(y;h Conference has twenty-eight cir- 
cuit and eighty-five local preachers and licen- 
tiates; twenty-five circuits, four stations and 
two mission-circuits, with six thousand nine 
hundred and two members in society. 

Ohio Conference has twenty-eight circuit 
and ninety local preachers, twenty-two cir- 
cuits, three stations, three mission-circuits, 
and three thousand six hundred and sixty-sev- 
en members. The Methodist Correspondent, 
a neat, semi-monthly quarto periodical, pub- 
lished at Zanesville, Ohio, is devoted to their 
interests. 

4. Presbyterians. The following table (with 
the exception of Illinois), embraces fifty-six 
presbyteries, and is constructed from the re- 
turns to the general assembly, in 1834; the 
minutes of 1835, we understand, have not 
been printed. 



362 



PECK S GUIDE. 



States and parts 


OF States. 


J 

o 

3 

o 


Ministers. 

Communi- 
cants. 


Western Pennsylvania 

Virginia, 
Michigan, 


and Western ) 


212 

32 

400 

99 

71 

33 

12 

120 

121 

15 

33 


135 

20 
255 
55 
50 
20 
9 
83 
90 
12 
24 


22,687 
1,397 


Oiiio, 


27,821 


Indiana, 


4,339 


Illinois, . , . 


2,000 


Missouri, 


1,549 


Arkansas, 


390 


Kentucky, 


8,378 


Tennessee, 


9,926 
725 


North Alabama, 


Mississippi, 


761 




Total, 






1148 


753 


79,973 



Periodicals. The Cincinnati Journal and 
Western Luminary, published at Cincinnati; 
Christian Herald, at Pittsburgh; Ohio Ob- 
server, at Hudson, Ohio; Western Presbyterian 
Herald, at Louisville, Ky. ; JVew Orleans Ob- 
server, at New Orleans; and Mon Observer, 
at Alton, 111. ; — all weekly ; and the Missionary 
Herald, republished at Cincinnati, monthly. 

5. Cumberland Presbyterians. This sect 
originated from the Presbyterian church in 
1804, in Kentucky, but did not increase much 
till 1810 or 12. They are spread through 
most of the Western States, and have thirty- 
four presbyteries, seven synods, and one gen- 
eral assembly. The minutes of their general 
assembly, now before me, are not sufficiently 
definite to give the number of congregations. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 363 

These probably exceed three hundred. An 
intelligent member of that denomination states 
the number of ordained preachers to be three 
hundred, licentiates, one hundred, candidates 
for the ministry, one hundred and fifty, and 
communicants, 50,000. 

Periodicals. The Cumberland Presbyterian 
is a weekly paper, published at Nashville, 
Tenn. Another has been recently started at 
Pittsburgh. 

6. Congregationalists. In Ohio, especially 
in the northern part, are a number of Con- 
gregational churches, and some ministers, as 
there are in Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. 
There are two or three ministers, twelve or 
fifteen congregations, and about five hundred 
communicants in Illinois, who are organized 
into an association in Illinois. 

7. Protestant Episcopal Church. This de- 
nomination has seven diocesses in the West- 
ern or south-western States, exclusive of 
Western Pennsylvania and Western Virginia, 
which belong to the diocesses of those States. 
They are, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana and Missouri. 
There are about seventy-five or eighty minis- 
ters, and twice as many churches in the West. 
Provision has been made, in part, for the en- 
dowment of the theological seminary at Gam- 
bier, O., in England, and Bishop Mcllvaine 
has obtained about $12,600, to be appropriat- 
ed in the erection of a gothic edifice, to be 
called "Bexley Hall," with three stories, and 



864 peck's guide. 

accommodations for fifty students. A weekly 
peiiodical is issued at the same place, to sup- 
port the interests of the denmnination. 

8. German Lutherans. We have no data 
to ^ive the statistics of this denomination. 
There is a synod in Ohio, an( ther in Western 
Pennsylvania, and perhaps others. There are 
prohably fifty or sixty ministeis in the West, 
and one hundred and fifty congregations. 

9. German Reformed Church. There are 
eighty congregations in Ohio, twenty in Indi- 
ana, and prohably fifty others in the West, 
with forty or fifty ministers. 

10. The Timkers, or Dnnkards, have foriy 
or fifty churches, and about half as many 
ministers in the Western States. 

11. The Shakers have villages in several 
places in Ohio and Kentucky, but are losing 
ground. 

rj. The Mormons have a large community 
at Kiikland, Ohio, where, under the direction 
of their prophet, Joseph Smith, they ate 
building a vast temple. They have probably 
two hundred preachers, and as many congre- 
gations in the West, and still make proselj^tes. 

13. Christian Stct, or JVeivliohts, have be- 
come, to a considerable extent, amalgamated 
with the '^ Rtformers,'^ or " Campbetlilts.^' I 
have not data on which to construct a tabular 
view of this sect; but from general informa- 
tion, estimate the number of their "bishops" 
and " proclaimers" at three hundred, and 
their communicants at 10,000 or 11^,000. 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 365 

They have three or four monthly periodi- 
cals. 

Alexander Campbell, who may be justly 
considered the leader of this sect (though 
they disclaim the term sed), is a learned, 
talented, and voluminous wiiter. He con- 
ducts their leading periodical, — the Millennial 
Ildrbino-er. 

14. The " Uaited Brethren i7i Christ, ^^ are 
a pious, moral and exemplary sect, chiefly in 
Ohio, but scattered somewhat in other West- 
ern States. They are mostly of German de- 
scent, and, in their doctrinal principles and 
usages, very nmch resemble the l\iethodists. 
They have about three hundred ministers in 
the West, and publish the Rtiis^ious Telescope, 
a large weekly paper, of evangelical princi- 
ples, and well conducted, — printed at Circle- 
ville, Ohio. 

15. Reformed Presbyterians, or C venanters, 
have twenty or thirty churches, and as nsany 
ministers, but are much dispersed through the 
Northern Valley. 

16. The Jlisociale Church, or Seceders, are 
more numerous than tlie Covenanters. 

17 'i'he Jlssociatt R formed Church. The 
western synod of this body still exists as a 
separate denomination. Their theolrgical 
school, at Pittsburgh, has already been no- 
ticed. I know not their numbers, but siij)- 
pose they exceed considerably the Associate 
Church, 

18. The Friends, or Quakers, have a num- 



366 peck's guide. 

ber of societies in Western Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, &c. 

19. The Unitarians have societies and min- 
isters at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. 
Louis, and probably in other places. 

There are many other sects and fragments 
in the West. The Valley of the Mississippi, 
like all new countries, is a wide and fertile 
field for the propagation of error, as it is for 
the display of truth. 

20. Roman Catholics. The number of pa- 
pal diocesses in the Valley, including the one 
at Mobile, is seven, of each of which a very 
brief sketch will be given, commencing with, 

1. Detroit, including Michigan and the 
North-Western Territory, — one bishop, with 
sub-officers, eighteen priests, and as many 
chapels. At Detroit and vicinity, for two or 
three miles, including the French, Irish and 
Germans, Roman Catholic families make up 
one third of the population; probably 3,500, 
of all ages. At Ann Arbor, and in the towns 
of Webster, Scio, Northfield, Lima and Dex- 
ter are many. At and near Bertrand on the 
St. Joseph's river, adjoining Indiana, they 
have a school established and an Indian mis- 
sion. Including the fur traders and Indians, 
they may be estimated at 10,000 in this 
diocess.* 

* The reader will note that our estimates of Roman 
Catholics include the whole family of every age. Where- 
as, our statistics of Protestant denominations included only 
communicants. 



LITERARY I?f STITUTIONS, ETC. 367 

^. Cincinnati. A large cathedral has been 
built in this place, and fit^een or twenty chap- 
els in the diocess. Ten years ago, the late 
bishop Fenwick could not count up five hun- 
dred. The emigration of foreigners, and the 
laborers on the Ohio canals, and not a little 
success in proselyting, account for the in- 
crease. There are twenty-five congregations, 
and eighteen priests. A literary institution, 
called the Athenceum, is established at Cincin- 
nati, where the students are required to attend 
the forms of worship, and the superior in- 
spects all their letters. St. Peter's Orphan 
Asylum, is under charge of four "Sisters of 
Charity." The number of Catholics in Cin- 
cinnati is variously estimated, the medium of 
which is 6000, and as many more dispersed 
through the State. 

3. Bardstown. This includes the State of 
Kentucky, and has a bishop, with the usual 
subordinates, twenty-seven congregations, and 
thiry-three priests, eleven of whom reside at 
Bardstown. A convent of six Jesuit priests 
at Lebanon ; another of five Dominicans, 
called St. Rose, in Washington county; the 
college at Bardstown, already noticed, and 
St. Mary's Seminary in Washington county, 
for the education of priests. Oi^ female insti- 
tutions, there are the Female Academy of 
jyazareth, at Bardstown, conducted by the 
"Sisters of Charity," and superintended by 
the bishop and professors of St. Joseph's col- 
lege, — one hundred and fifty pupils ; the 



368 peck's guide. 

female academy of Loretto, Washington 
county, with accommodation for one hundred 
boarders, and directed by the " Sisters of 
M irij at the fool of the cross. ^' This order 
have six other places for country schools, and 
are said to be one hundred and thirty-Hve in 
number. The Convent of HobjMary, and the 
jyj >nasfery of Si. Magdalene, at St. Rose, 
Washington county, by Dominican nuns, fil- 
teen in number, and in 1831, thirty |)upi]s. 
The Catholics have a female academy at 
Lexington, with one hundred pupils. 

I have no data to show the Roman Catholic 
population of this State, but it is by no means 
j)r(>portionate to the foi-midable machinery 
here exhil>ited. All this array of colleges, 
seminaries, monasteries, convents and nun- 
neries is for the work of proselyting, and if 
they are not successful, it only shows that the 
cunent of popular sentiment sets strongly in 
anotlier direction. 

4. Vincennes. This is a new diocess, re- 
cently carved ( ut of Indiana and Illinois, by 
the authority ol" an old gentleman, who lives 
in the city of Rome! It includes a dozen 
chapels, tour or live priests, the St. Claire 
onvent at Vincennes, with several other ap- 
pendages. The Roman ('atholic population 
of this State is not numerous, probably not 
exceeding r3000. Illinois has about 5000, a 
part of which is under the jurisdiction ot" St. 
L >uis diocess. In Illinois, there are tea 
chuiches and six priests, a part of which are 



LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 369 

included in the diocess of Indiana. A con- 
vent of nuns of the " Visitation of the blessed 
Virgin Mdvy,^^ at Kaskaskia, who conduct a 
female school, with a lew boarders and about 
thirty or forty day scholars. 

5. S'. Ljiiis. This diocess includes eight- 
een congregations and nineteen priests, witb 
the following ap[)endages: — 1. St. Louis Unv- 
lersify, already noticed, with six priests, fo* 
instructors, and one hundred and fifty students, 
of which, about eighty are boarders. The 
rules require their attendance on morning and 
evening [)rayers, the catechism, and divine 
service on Sundays and holidays. 2. St. 
Mary's college, also noticed in our descriptioH 
of C'llleges. 3. Noviciate for Jesuits under 
Si. Stanislaus, in St. Louiej county. 

Of female institutions there are, — 1. Con- 
vent of the " Ladies of the Sacred Heart,'* al 
St. Louis: 2. another of the same description, 
and their noviciate, at Floriisr^nnt; 3. another 
of the same order at St. Charles; 4. a i'emale 
academy at Carondalet, six miles below St. 
Louis, by the " Sisters of Charitij;'' 5. a con- 
vent and academy of the " Sisters cf Ljretto^^* 
at New Madrid; 6. a convent and female 
academy at Frederickstown, under supervision 
of a priest ; 7. a convent and female academjr 
of the " Sisters of Loretto,'' in Perry county. 
The Roman Catholic population in Missouri 
does not exceed 15,000. Their pupils of both 
sexes, may be estimated at seven hundred. 
To the above may be added the hospital, and 
16* 



370 peck's guide. 

the asylum for boys, in St. Louis, under the 
management of the Sisters of Charity. 

Roman Catholic teachers, usually foreign- 
ers, disperse themselves through the country, 
and engage in teaching primary schools; 
availing themselves of intercourse with the 
families of their employers to instruct them in 
the dogmas of their religion. The greatest 
success that has attended the efforts of the 
priests in converting others, has been during 
the prevalence of the cholera, and especially 
after collapse and insensibility had seized the 
person! We know of more than sixty Roman 
Catholics who have been converted to the 
faith of Christ, and joined Christian churches 
within three or four years past, in this vState. 

6. JVeiv Orleans. — The Roman Catholics in 
Louisiana are numerous, probably including 
one third of the population. Relatively, 
Protestants are increasing, as a large propor- 
tion of the emigration from the other States, 
who care any thing about religion, are Pro- 
testants. There are twenty-six congregations, 
and twenty-seven priests with several con- 
vents, female seminaries, asylums, &c. 

7. Mobile . — A splendid cathedral has been 
commenced here. This diocess extends into 
Florida. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS. 

Canal, Steam-Boat and Stage Routes — Other Modes of 
Travel — Expenses — Roads, Distances, &c., &.C. 

In the concluding chapter to this Guide, it 
is proposed to give such information as is 
always desirable to emigrants upon removing, 
or traveling for any purpose, to the West. 

1. Persons in moderate circumstances, or 
who would save time and expense, need not 
make a visit to the West, to ascertain partic- 
ulars previous to removal. A few general 
facts, easily collected from a hundred sources, 
will enable persons to decide the great ques- 
tion, whether they will emigrate to the Valley. 
By the same means, emigrants may determine 
to what State, and to what part of that State, 
their course shall be directed. There are 
many things that a person of plain, common 
sense will take for granted without inquiry, — 
such as facilities for obtaining all the necessa- 
ries of life; the readiness with which property 
of any description may be obtained for a fair 



S72 PECK^S GUIDE. 

value, and especially farms and wild land; 
that they can live where hundreds ofthousands 
of others of similar habits and feelings live; 
and above all, they should take it for granted, 
that there are dithculties to be encountered in 
every country, and in all business; — that 
these dilficuUies can be surmounted with 
reasonable efi'ort, patience and perseverance, 
and that in every country, people sicken and 
di^. 

2. Having decided to what State and part 
of the State, an emigrant will remove, let him 
then conclude to take as little iurniture and 
other luggage as he can do with, especially 
if he comes by public conveyances. Those 
who reside within convenient distance of a 
sea port, would Hnd it both safe and economi- 
cal to ship by New Orleans, in boxes, such 
articles as are not wanted on the road, espe- 
cially if they steer for the navigable waters 
of the Mississipi)i. Bed and other clothing, 
books, &c., packed in boxes, like merchants* 
goods, will go much safer and cheaper by 
New Orleans, than by any of the inland 
routes. I have received more than one 
hundred packages and boxes from eastern 
ports, by that r(mte, within twenty years, and 
never lost one. Boxes should be marked to 
the owner or his agent at the river port 
where destined, and to the charge of some 
forwarding house in New Orleans. The 
freight and charges may be paid when the 
boxes are received. 



SUGGESTOXS TO EMIGRANTS. 373 

3. If a person designs to remove to the 
north part of Ohio and Indiana, to Chicago 
and vicinity, or to Michigan, or Green Hay, 
his course should he by the New York canaJ, 
and the lakes. The following table, showing 
the time of the opening of the canal at Albany 
and Buffalo, and the opening of the lake, 
from 1821 to 18^35, is from a report of a com- 
mittee at Buffalo to the connnon council of 
that city. It will be of use to those who wish 
to take the northern route in the spring. 



Year. 


Canal opened 
at BiitfHl.). 


Canal opened 
at Al') iiy. 


Lake Erio opened 
at Buff. lo. 


1827 
1828 


April 21 
1 


Apri 


1 21 


April 21 
" 1 


1829 
1830 
1831 


" 25 
" 15 
" 16 




29 
20 
16 


May 10 
April 6 
May 8 


1832 


«♦ 18 




25 


April 27 


1833 


" 22 




22 


" 23 


1834 


" 16 




17 


6 


1835 


" 15 




15 


May 8 



The same route will carry emigrants to 
Cleaveland, and by the Ohio canal, to Co- 
lumbus, or to the Ohio river, at Portsmoulii; 
frotn whence, by steam-boat, direct commu- 
nications will otfer to any river port in the 
Western States. From Bufl^alo, steam-boats 
run constantly (when the lake is open), to 
Detroit, stopping at Erie, Ashtabula, Cleave- 
land, Sandusky and many other ports, from 
whence stages run to every prominent town. 
Transportation-wagons are employed in for- 
warding goods. 



374 peck's 


GUIDE. 


Route from Buffalo 


to Detroit, by water. 


Mil.'s. 


Miles. 


Dunkirk, N.Y. 39 

Portland, " 18—57 

Erie, Pa 35—92 


Cleaveland, Ohio,. 30— 193 
Sandusky, " . 54—247 
Amherstburg, N.C. 52—299 
Detroit, xMich.,. . . 18—317 


Ashtabula, Ohio, . 39—131 
Fairport, " . 32—163 



From Detroit to Chicago, Illinois. 



Miles. 

St. Clair river, Mich.,. 40 

Palmer, 17 — 57 

Fort Gratiot, 14—71 

White Rock,. . . .40—111 
Thunder Island, . .70—181 
Middle Island, . . .25—206 
Presquelsle, . . . .65—271 



xMiles. 

Mackinaw, 58—329 

Isle Brule, 75—404 

Fort Howard, Wis- 
consin Ter.,. . .100 — 504 
Milwaukee, W.T.31 0—814 
Chicago, 111., . . . 90—904 



Fron Cleaveland to Portsmouth, via. the Ohio canal. 



Miles. 
Cuyahoga aqueduct, 22 

Old Portage, 12—34 

Akron, 4—38 

New Portage, .... 5 — 43 

Clinton, 11 — 54 

Massillon, 11—65 

Bethlehem, 6—71 

Bolivar, 8—79 

Zoar, 3—82 

Dover, 7—89 

New Philadelphia, . 4—93 
Newcomers'town, 22 — 115 
Coshocton, 17—132 



Irville, 26 

Newark, 13 

Hebron, 10 

Licking Summit, . . 5 
Lancaster Canaan, 11 
Columbus, side cut, 18 

Bloomfield, 8 

Circleville, 9 

Chillicoihe, 23 

Piketon, 25 

Lucasville, 14 

Portsmouth, (Ohio 



Miles. 
—158 
—171 
—181 
—186 
—197 
—215 
223 
232 
255 
—280 
294 



river), 



13_307 



The most expeditious, pleasant and direct 
route for travelers to the southern parts of 
Ohio and Indiana; to the Illinois river, as far 
north as Peoria; to the Upper Mississippi, as 



SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS. 



375 



far as Quincy, Rock island, Galena and Prairie 
du Chien ; to Missouri, and to Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, Arkansas, Natchez and New Orleans, 
is one of the southern routes. These are, — 
1. From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, by rail- 
roads and the Pennsylvania canal; 2. By the 
Baltimore and Ohio rail-road and stages, to 
Wheeling; or, 3. For people living to the 
south of Washington, by stage, by the way of 
Charlottesville, (Virginia,) Staunton, the Hot, 
Warm, and White-Sulphur Springs, Lewis- 
burg, Charlestown, to Guyandotte, from 
whence a rejjular line of steam-boats runs 
three times a week to Cincinnati. Inter- 
mediate routes from Washington city to 
W^heeling, or to Harper's Ferry, to Fred- 
ericksburg, and intersect the route through 
Virginia, at Charlottesville. 

From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, by the rail-road and 
canal. 



.Miles. 
CoIumhia,on theSus- 
quehanna river, by 
rail-road, daily,. ... 81 
By canal packets, to 
Bainbridire, 11—92 



Middletown, . . 


. .17- 


-109 


Harrisburg, . . . 


. .10- 


-119 


Juniata river, . . 


. .15- 


-144 


Millerstown, . . 


. .17- 


-151 


Mifflin, 


. .17- 


-168 


Lewistown, . . 


. .13- 


-181 


Waynesburg, . . 


. .14- 


-195 


Harniltonville, . 


..11- 


-206 


Huntingdon, . . 


. . 7- 


-213 



Miles. 

Petersburg, 8 — 221 

Alexandria, 23—244 

Frankstown and Hol- 

lidaysburg, .... 3 — 247 
From thence, by ruil-rodd, 

across the mountain, to 

Johnstown, 38 — 285 

By canal, to 

BlairsviUe, 35—320 

Saltzburg, 18—338 

Warren, 12—350 

Alleghany river, . .16—366 
Pittsburgh, 28—394 



376 



PECK S GUIDE. 



The Pioneer line, on this route, is exclusive- 
ly for passengers, and professes to rrach 
Pittsburgh in four days, but is sonictiiries 
behind, several hours. Fare tiirough, ^10. 
Passengers pay for meals. 

The Good-Intent line is also for passengers 
only, and runs in competition with the Pioneer 
line. 

Leech's line, called the " Western Trans- 
portation line,'^ takes both freight and pas- 
sengers. The packet-boats advertise to go 
through, to Pittsburgh, in five days, for ^7. 

Midship and steerage passengers in the 
transportation line, in six and a half days, — 
merchandise delivered in eight days. Gen- 
erally, however, there is some delay. Emi- 
grants must not expect to carry more than 
a small trunk or two, on the packet-lines. 
Those who take goods or furnituic, and wish 
to keep with it, had better take the transport- 
ation lines, with more delay. The price of 
meals on board the boats is about thirty-seven 
and a half cents. 

In all the steam-boats on the Western wa- 
ters no additional charge is made to cabin pas- 
sengers for meals; — and the tables are usually 
profusely supplied. Strict order is observed, 
and the waiters and officers are attentive. 

Sleam-boat route from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Ohio, 

.\)il:-S. 

Steubenville, Ohio, 27—69 
VVellsburgh, Va., . . 7—76 
Warren, Ohio,. . . . 6—82 
Wheeling, Va., . . . 10—92 





Wil3>^. 


Midd'etown, Pa. . 


11 


I coiiouiy, " . 


. . 8—19 


leaver " . 


. .10—29 


Georgetown, " . 


. .13—42 



SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS. 



377 



Elizabetkown, ?a.,ll 
Sistersville, " .34 
Newport, Ohio, . .27 
Marietta, " ... 14 
Parkersburgh, Va, . 1 1- 
Belpre and Blanner- 
hasset Island, O., 4- 

Troy, Ohio, 10- 

Belleville, Va., 7- 
L^etait's Rapids, " S7- 
Point Pleasant, " 27- 
Gallipolis, Otiio, .. 4- 
Guyandotte, Va.,. 27- 
Burlington, Ohio, .10- 
dreensburg, Ky., .19- 
Concord, Ohio, . . .12- 
Ports77iouth{Oh\o ca- 
nal), 7- 

Vanceburg, Ky.,. .20- 



Miles. 
-103 
-137 
-164 
—178 
-189 

-193 
-203 
-210 
-247 
-274 
-278 
-S05 



Manchester, Ohio, 16- 
Maysville, Ky., . . 11- 
Charleston, " . . . 4- 

Ripley, Ohio, 6- 

Angusta, Kj., . . . 8- 
Neville, Ohio, 7- 

Moscow, '• 7- 

Point Pleasant, " 4 — 
New Richmond," 7- 
Colunibia, " 15- 

Fulton, " 6- 

ClNCINNATI, " 2- 

NorthBend, " 15- 

Lawrenceburgh, Tnd. 

and mouth of the 

Miami, 8- 

Anrora, Ind., .... 2- 
Petersburg, Ky., . . 2- 
Bellevue, " . . 8- 
Rising Sun, Ind., . 2- 
Fredericksburg,Ky.l8- 
17 



-34G 

-353 
-373 

-389 
-400 
-404 
410 
-418 
425 
432 
43C 
443 
458 
564 
466 
481 



-489 
-491 
-493 
-501 
-503 
-521 



] Miles. 

I Vevay, Ind., and 

Ghent, Ky., . ..11—532 
Port William, Ky., 8—540 
Madison, Ind., 15—555 
New London, " 12—567 
Bethlehem, " 8 — 575 
Westport, Ky,, 7 — 582 
Transylvania, " 15 — 595 
LouisviLL^, " 12—609 
Shippingport, through 

the canal,. . . ,2^—611^ 
New Albany, Ind., U— 613 
Salt River, Ky., . .23—636 
Northampton, Ind. ,18 — 654 
Leavenworth, " .17 — 671 
Fredonia, " . 2 — 673 

Rome, " .32—705 

Troy, " .25—730 

Kockport, " .16—746 

( ■vvenburgh, Ky., ,12 — 758 
Eransi-Ule, Tnd., .36—794 
Henderson, Ky., . . 12—806 
MoKVit Vernon, Ind.28— 834 
Carthacre, Ky., 12—846 
Wabash river, " . 7—853 
Shaichcdown, 111., 11—864 
jMouth of ;-"aline, " 12—876 
Cave in Peck, " 10—886 
Golconda, " 19—905 

Smiihland, mouth 

of the Cumberland 

river, Ky.,. . . . 10—915 
Paducah, mouth of 

the Tennessee 

river, Ky.,. . . . 13 — 928 
Caledonia, 111., . . 31—959 
Trinity, mouth of 

Cash river. III., . 10—969 
Mouth of the 

Ohio River, ..(,' — 975 



378 peck's guide. 

Persons who wish to visit Indianopolis will 
stop at Madison, Indiana, and take the stage 
conveyance. From Louisville, by the way of 
Vincennes, to St. Louis by stage, every al- 
ternate day, two hundred and seventy-three 
miles, through in three days and a half. 
Fare §17. Stages run from Vincennes to 
Terre Haute and other towns up the Wabash 
river. At Evansville, Indiana, stage lines are 
connected with Vincennes and Terre Haute; 
and at Shawneetown twice a week to Carlyle, 
Illinois, where it intersects the line from 
Louisville to St. Louis. From Louisville to 
Nashville by «team-boats, passengers land at 
Smithland at the mouth of Cumberland river, 
unless they embark direct for Nashville. 

In the winter, both stage and steam-boat 
lines are uncertain and irregular. Ice in the 
rivers frequently obstructs navigation, and 
high waters and bad roads sometimes prevent 
stages from running regularly. 

Farmers who remove to the West from the 
Northern and Middle States, will find it ad- 
vantageous, in many instances, to remove 
with their own teams and wagons. These 
they will need on their arrival. Autumn, or 
from September till November, is the favor- 
able season for this mode of emigration. The 
roads are then in good order, the weather 
usually favorable, and feed plenty. People of 
all classes, from the States south of the Ohio 
river, remove with large wagons, carry and 
cook their own provisions, purchase their 



SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS. 3T9 

feed by the bushel, and invariably encamp out 
iit night. 

Individuals vi^ho wish to travel through the 
interior of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Mis- 
souri, kc, v.'ill find that the most convenient, 
sure, economical and independent mode is on 
horseback. Their expenses will be from sev- 
enty-five cents to one dollar fifty cents per day, 
and they can always consult their own con- 
venience and pleasure as to time and place. 

Stage fare is usually six cents per mile, in 
the West. Meals, at stage-houses, are thirty- 
seven and a half cents. 

Steam-boat Fare, including Meals. 

From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, ..,.., $'10 

" Cincinnati to Louisville, 4 

" Louisville to St. Louis, 12 

And frequently the same from Cincinnati to 
St. Louis, — varying a little, however. 

A dtck passage, as it is called, may be rated 
as follows: — 

From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, ^3 

" Cincinnati to Louisville, 1 

^* Louisville to St. Louis, 4 

The deck for such passengers is usually ia 
the midship, forwar-d of the engine, and is 
protected from the weather. Passengers fur- 
nish their own provisions and bedding. They 
■often take their meals at the cabin table, with 
the boat-hands, and pay twenty-five cents a 
meal. Thousands pass up and down the riv- 
ers as deck passengers, especially emigrating 



380 PECK^S GUIDE. 

lamilies, who have their bedding, provision* 
and cooking utensils on board. 

The whole expense of a single person from 
New York to St. Louis, by the way of Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburgh, with cabin passage on 
the river, will range betweeh ^40 and ^45; — 
time from twelve to fifteen days. 

Taking the transportation lines on the Penn- 
sylvania canal, and a deck passage in the 
steam-boat, and the expenses will range be- 
tween {^20 and ^~2o, supposing the person buys 
his meals at twenty-five cents, and eats twice 
a day. If he carry his own provisions, the 
passage, &,c., will he from $15 to §^18. 

The following is from an advertisement of 
the Western Transportation, or Leech's line„ 
from Philadelphia: — 

Miles. 

Fare to Pittsburgh^ 400 . 

'• Cincinnati, .... 900. 

" Louisville, 1050. 

" Nashville, 1650 . 

" St. Louis, 1750. 

The above does not include meals. 

Packet-boaisfor Cabin Passengers {same line.) 
Miles. 
Fare to Pittsburgh, .... 400 . 
" Cincinnati, .... 900, 
" Louisville, . . . .1050 
" Nashville, ... .1650, 
" St. Louis, 1750. 

Emigrants and travelers will find it to their 
interest always to be a little skeptical rela- 



Days. 


Fare. 


. . 6^ . . 


. . $'6 00 


. . 8i . . 


..85a 


. . H.. 


. . 900 


..iH.. 


. . 13 00 


. .14 . . 


. . 13 00 



ays. 


Fare. 


5. . . 


. . $7 00 


8. . 


. 17 00 


9. . 


. 19 00 


13. . 


. 27 00 


13. . 


. 27 00 



SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS, 38 i 

live to statements of stage, steam and canal-> 
boat agents, to make some allowance in their 
own calculations for delays, difficulties and 
expenses and above all, to feel perfectly pa-^ 
tient and in good humor with themselves, the 
officers, company, and the world, even if they 
do not move quite as rapid and fare quite as 
well as they desire. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




